Iran announced the capture of an “American oil tanker” in the Gulf of Oman, hours after the British Navy reported a ship had been seized by “unauthorised armed persons”.
“The Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced the seizure of an American oil tanker in the waters of the Oman Sea by court order,” the Iranian navy said in a brief statement published by the Tasnim agency. said.
Iranian officials did not name the ship or provide further details about it. The brief announcement came just hours after the British Navy reported that a ship had been boarded “by 4-5 unauthorized gunmen at around 3.30am GMT” in an accident 50 miles northeast of Sohar, Oman.
The seized ship is the oil tanker “St Nikolas”, which flies the flag of the Marshall Islands and belongs to the Greek shipping company Empire Navigation. According to the Greek government agency Amna, the ship’s crew consists of 19 people, including one Greek and 18 Filipino citizens.
The ship in question, while sailing under the name “Suez Rajan,” was embroiled in a year-long dispute in which the U.S. Justice Department ordered the seizure of millions of barrels of Iranian crude it was carrying.
According to Amna (Greece’s main news agency), the ship had loaded approximately 145 thousand tons of oil in Basra, Iraq, and its final destination was Aliaga, Turkey (leased by the Turkish state oil company Tüpraş). . However, according to the statement made by British maritime security company Ambrey Analytics, the ship is currently heading towards Iran’s Bandar-e Jask port after being stopped by Iranian authorities.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
