Iran has seized a tanker with Iraqi crude destined for Turkey in retaliation for the confiscation last year of the same vessel and its oil by the United States, Iranian state media reported, a move likely to stoke regional tensions.
“The Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran seized an American oil tanker in the waters of the Gulf of Oman in accordance with a court order,” the state-run IRNA news agency said.
“After the theft of Iranian oil by the United States last year, St Nikolas tanker was seized by Iran’s Navy”, the navy said, as cited by the Iranian news agency Fars.
The seizure comes after weeks of attacks by Yemen’s Iranian-aligned Houthis on vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthi rebels say they are carrying out the attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid Israel’s assault on the territory.
The group’s attacks have raised the risk of possible retaliatory strikes from US-led forces patrolling the busy waterway, especially after a United Nations Security Council vote on Wednesday condemning the Houthis.
But while the Houthis have been concentrated on the Bab al-Mandab Strait, to the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula, Thursday’s incident was located closer to the Strait of Hormuz, between Oman and Iran.
The British maritime security firm Ambrey said the incident began at about 7:30am (03:30 GMT) when several armed men boarded the Marshall Islands-flagged St Nikolas, around 50 nautical miles east of Sohar in Oman, and then headed towards Bandar-e-Jask in Iran.
TankerTrackers.com, which tracks and reports global shipments of crude oil, said the tanker was carrying “Iraqi oil” and previously went by the name Suez Rajan.
