https://www.timesofisrael.com/tanker-in-the-gulf-of-oman-seized-boarded-by-unauthorized-men-in-uniform/
Iran says it seized tanker in the Gulf of Oman over year-long dispute with US
Tehran claims Suez Rajan ‘stole’ Iranian oil after
US Justice Department seized 1 million barrels of crude oil from it, as
tensions boil along region’s maritime routes
Iran’s navy seized an oil tanker on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman that
once was at the center of a major crisis between Tehran and Washington,
officials said, a seizure that further escalates tensions in the
Mideast waterways.
The vessel was once known as the Suez Rajan and was involved in a
yearlong dispute that ultimately saw the US Justice Department seize 1
million barrels of Iranian crude oil on it.
The seizure also comes after weeks of attacks by Yemen’s
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea, including their
largest barrage ever of drones and missiles launched late Tuesday. That
has raised the risk of possible retaliatory strikes by US-led forces
now patrolling the vital waterway, particularly after a United Nations
Security Council vote on Wednesday condemning the Houthis and as
American and British officials warned of potential consequences over the
attacks.
Iran’s state-run television acknowledged the seizure late Thursday afternoon, hours after armed men boarded it.
“The violating oil tanker Suez Rajan… stole Iranian oil by leading it
to the Americans and delivered it to the Americans,” state TV said. It
said Iran’s navy, rather than its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard,
conducted the seizure. Past tense incidents at sea have largely involved
the Guard.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations,
which provides warnings to sailors in the Middle East, said Thursday’s
seizure began early in the morning in the waters between Oman and Iran
in an area transited by ships coming in and out of the Strait of Hormuz,
the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all
traded oil passes.
The US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which patrols the Mideast, did not respond to a request for comment on the incident.
In September, Empire Navigation pleaded guilty to smuggling
sanctioned Iranian crude oil and agreed to pay a $2.4 million fine over a
case involving the tanker Suez Rajan, which carried some 1 million
barrels of oil.
Since the collapse of Iran’s nuclear deal in 2018, waters around the
strait have seen a series of ship seizures by Iran, as well as assaults
targeting shipping that the US Navy has blamed on Tehran. Iran and the
US Navy also have had a series of tense encounters in the waterway.
Recently, however, attention has been focused on the Iranian-backed
Houthi rebels of Yemen attacking ships in the Red Sea amid Israel’s war
with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, the UN Security Council demanded an immediate halt to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea in a resolution that implicitly condemned the group’s main weapons supplier — Iran.
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This is a locator map for the Gulf
Cooperation Council member states: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman,
Kuwait and United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo)
The resolution condemned “in the strongest terms” at least two dozen
attacks carried out by the Houthis on merchant and commercial vessels,
which the resolution says are impeding global commerce and undermining
navigational freedom.
The Iranian-backed Houthis have said they launched the attacks with
the aim of ending Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which
was triggered by the deadly onslaught in southern Israel on October 7 in
which thousands of Hamas-led terrorists slaughtered some 1,200 people,
most of them civilians, and seized around 240 hostages.
The United States and its allies also have been seizing Iranian oil
cargoes since 2019, which in return has led to a series of attacks in
the Middle East attributed to the Islamic Republic, as well as ship
seizures by Iranian military and paramilitary forces that threaten
global shipping.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
