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Iran says its navy seized tanker in Gulf of Oman

January 11, 2024

Iranian state media has said the Iranian navy has taken control of an oil tanker off Oman on a "court order." The incident comes amid a spate of attacks on ships in the region by various actors.

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Ships seen in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's busiest waterways
Ships seen in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's busiest waterwaysImage: Jon Gambrell/AP Photo/picture alliance

Iran's navy on Thursday seized an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, an action that is likely to further raise already high tensions in maritime regions of the Middle East.

The seized ship, identified by private intelligence firm Ambrey as the Marshall Islands-flagged St. Nikolas, was once, under the name of Suez Rajan, at the center of a long-running dispute between Washington and Tehran.

The row culminated in the US Justice Department seizing a million barrels of sanctioned Iranian crude oil that were aboard it last year.

Iranian state media said the St. Nikolas had been seized in retaliation for what it called the "theft" of Tehran's oil. 

The incident comes following multiple attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen on ships in the Red Sea in recent weeks that have prompted US and British officials to warn of potential military consequences.

What are the circumstances of the seizure?

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a body run by the British military, said the seizure took place in the early hours of Thursday morning near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which a fifth of globally traded oil transits.

Ambrey said "four to five armed persons" boarded the ship, which has a crew of 18 Filipinos and one Greek national.

Since the collapse of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal, several ships have been seized by Tehran in waters around the strait.

The tanker's Greece-based management company, Empire Navigation, told news agency AFP in a statement that the vessel had been transporting 145,000 metric tons of crude oil from Basra, Iraq, to Aliaga in Turkey.  

State-run Iranian news agency IRNA, quoting the Iranian navy's public relations office, said the ship was now "being transferred to the ports of the Islamic republic for delivery to the judicial authorities."

Tit-for-tat measures

Iran already retaliated last year to the seizure of Suez Rajan's oil by taking over two tankers — the Marshall Islands-flagged Advantage Sweet as it sailed toward the United States in the Gulf of Oman, and then the Greek-owned Niovi, as it traveled from Dubai to Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates. 

The country is under US sanctions, reimposed after Washington's 2018 withdrawal from the landmark nuclear deal.

tj/msh (AP, Reuters, AFP)