Abu Dhabi
CNN
—
Iran has seized an oil tanker within the Gulf of Oman and is transferring it to an Iranian port in retaliation for the USA confiscating the identical vessel and its oil final 12 months, Tasnim Information Company reported Thursday.
The media outlet related to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps cited an announcement from the Iranian Navy saying the seizure adopted an order from an Iranian courtroom.
“This tanker whose identify was modified to St Nicholas and carrying oil within the Oman sea was seized in retaliation for the theft of oil by the American regime, with an order from the judicial courts, and is being transferred to ports of the Islamic Republic to be delivered to the judicial authorities.”
United Kingdom Maritime Commerce Operations mentioned earlier {that a} vessel within the Gulf of Oman had been boarded Thursday by at the least 4 armed individuals and had diverted course towards Iranian territorial waters.
The ship’s Firm Safety Officer reported listening to unknown voices over the telephone, after which communications with the vessel had been misplaced, UKMTO mentioned. The reported seizure occurred early Thursday morning (round 10:30 p.m. ET Wednesday) in waters between Iran and Oman.
The armed “unauthorized” individuals who boarded the vessel had been carrying military-style black uniforms with masks, the UK naval data service mentioned.
A maritime monitoring web site, Tanker Trackers, mentioned the vessel seized was a Marshall Islands-flagged crude oil tanker named St Nikolas, previously often called the Suez Rajan.
The Suez Rajan, which was on the heart of a dispute between the USA and Iran, was seized by the US authorities final 12 months after a courtroom discovered that it was used to “covertly promote and transport Iranian oil to a buyer overseas,” the US Division of Justice mentioned in a press launch.
The DOJ mentioned “a number of entities” affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been concerned within the scheme to “disguise the origin of the oil” and illegally promote it to China, in keeping with courtroom paperwork.
Virtually 1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil had been seized by the US authorities on the time, the DOJ mentioned.
In April final 12 months, the corporate working the ship that was carrying the oil, Empire Navigation, pleaded responsible to conspiring to violate the Worldwide Emergency Financial Powers Act. The Suez Rajan transported the contraband to the USA and “incurred the numerous bills related to the vessel’s voyage to the USA,” in keeping with the DOJ.
CNN has contacted Empire Navigation and the Iranian mission on the United Nations for remark.
It is a growing story and will likely be up to date.