An oil tanker once at the center of the crisis between Iran and the United States was boarded in the Gulf of Oman by “unauthorized” people in military uniform early Thursday morning, an advisory group run by Britain’s military and a private security firm warned.
Details remain unclear in what appears to be the latest seizure of a vessel in tense Middle Eastern waterways.
However, suspicion immediately fell on Iran because the ship was once known as the Suez Rajan and had been embroiled in a year-long dispute that eventually saw the US Department of Justice seize 1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil on board.
The apparent seizure also comes after weeks of attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on shipping in the Red Sea, including their largest-ever barrage of drones and missiles launched late Tuesday.
That has raised the risk of a possible counterattack by US-led forces now patrolling the vital waterway, especially after a United Nations Security Council vote on Wednesday condemned the Houthis and as American and British officials warned of the possible fallout from the attack. .
The oil tanker was boarded in the Gulf of Oman by “unauthorized” people dressed in military uniform early Thursday morning.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which warned sailors in the Middle East, said the apparent seizure began early Thursday in the waters between Oman and Iran in the transit area by ships going in and out of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a a fifth of all oil trade.
The UK military’s operational group described receiving a report from the ship’s security manager hearing “an unknown voice on the phone” with the ship’s captain.
It said that further efforts to contact the ship were unsuccessful and that the men on board were wearing “a black military-style uniform with a black mask.”
The seizure follows weeks of attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on shipping in the Red Sea. @TankerTrackers / X
Private security firm Ambrey said that “six military men” boarded the vessel, identified as the St. Nicholas. It said the men had turned off the surveillance cameras as they boarded the plane.
The tanker had been outside the Iraqi city of Basra, loading crude oil bound for Aliaga, Turkey, for Turkish refining firm Tupras.
Satellite tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press last showed the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker had turned around and headed for the Iranian port of Bandar-e Jask.
The report said the man on board was wearing a “black military-style uniform with a black mask.”
St. Nikolas was previously named Suez Rajan, associated with the Greek shipping company Empire Navigation.
In a statement to the AP, Athens-based Empire Navigation acknowledged losing contact with the ship, which had a crew of 18 Filipinos and one Greek.
The company did not elaborate.
The tanker had been outside the city of Basra, Iraq, loading crude oil bound for Aliaga, Turkey. @UANI / X
Attention first focused on the Suez Rajan in February 2022, when the group United Against Nuclear Iran said it suspected the tanker was carrying oil from Iran’s Khargh Island, its main oil distribution terminal in the Persian Gulf.
Satellite photos and transmission data analyzed at the time by the AP support that claim.
For months, the ship sat in the South China Sea off the northeast coast of Singapore before suddenly sailing to the coast of Texas without explanation.
The ship released its cargo to another tanker in August, which discharged its oil in Houston as part of a Justice Department order.
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In September, Empire Navigation pleaded guilty to smuggling authorized Iranian crude and agreed to pay a $2.4 million fine in connection with the case involving the tanker.
The US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which patrols the Middle East, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, citing foreign reports, mentioned the boarding but did not say anything else.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After the ship, then the Suez Rajan, headed for America, Iran seized two tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, including one with cargo for US oil major Chevron Corp.
In July, the top commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s naval force threatened further action against anyone who took down the Suez Rajan, with state media linking the recent seizure to the fate of the cargo.
Since the collapse of the Iran nuclear deal, the waters around the strait have seen a series of ship hijackings by Iran, as well as attacks targeting shipping that the Navy has blamed on Tehran.
Iran and the Navy have also had a series of tense encounters on the waterway, although recent attention has focused on Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
The US and its allies have also seized Iranian oil cargoes since 2019.
That has led to a series of attacks in the Middle East linked to the Islamic Republic, as well as the seizure of ships by Iranian military and paramilitary forces that threaten global shipping.
The Houthis said their attack was aimed at ending the suffering of Palestinians in Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
However, the rebels have increasingly targeted ships that are weak or have no connection to Israel.
Meanwhile, satellite tracking data analyzed by the AP on Thursday showed that an Iranian cargo ship suspected of being a spying platform in the Red Sea had left the waterway.
Data shows Behshad transited through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to the Gulf of Aden.
Behshad has been in the Red Sea since 2021 off the Dahlak archipelago in Eritrea.
It arrived there after Iran removed Saviz, another suspected spy base in the Red Sea that was damaged in an attack that analysts linked to Israel amid a wider shadow war over ship attacks in the region.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
