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IRAN’S NAVY SEIZES OIL TANKER IN GULF OF OMAN THAT WAS AT THE CENTER OF A MAJOR
U.S.-IRAN CRISIS

Politics Jan 11, 2024 2:58 PM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s navy captured an oil tanker Thursday
in the Gulf of Oman that only months earlier had seen its cargo of Iranian oil
seized by the United States over sanctions linked to Tehran’s nuclear program,
further escalating the tensions gripping the Mideast’s waterways.

The vessel was previously known as the Suez Rajan when it was involved in a
yearlong dispute beginning in 2021 that ultimately saw the U.S. Justice
Department take the 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 U.S.-led forces now patrolling the vital waterway,
especially 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, linking it to the earlier oil seizure. It said
Iran’s navy, rather than its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, conducted the
seizure. Past tense incidents at sea have largely involved the Guard.

WATCH: Blinken tours Mideast in effort to keep Israel-Hamas war from spreading

The Iranian navy’s “seizure of the oil tanker does not constitute hijacking;
rather, it is a lawful undertaking sanctioned by a court order and corresponds
to the theft of Iran’s very own oil,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations told
The Associated Press in a statement. “Adhering to the established legal
procedures is the most prudent approach for the resolution of this matter.”

The St. Nikolas was earlier named the 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 vessel, which has a crew
of 18 Filipinos and one Greek national.

“Empire have no such knowledge of a court order or the Iranian navy having
seized their vessel, and have still not been contacted by anyone,” the company
said.

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 U.K. military-run group described receiving a report from the ship’s
security manager of hearing “unknown voices over the phone” alongside with the
ship’s captain. It said further efforts to contact the ship had failed and that
the men who boarded the vessel wore “black military-style uniforms with black
masks.”

The private security firm Ambrey said that “four to five armed persons” boarded
the ship, which it identified as the oil tanker St. Nikolas. It said the men
covered the surveillance cameras as they boarded.

READ MORE: Hezbollah launches drone strike on base in northern Israel. Israel’s
military says there’s no damage

The tanker had been off the city of Basra, Iraq, loading crude oil bound for
Aliaga, Turkey, for the Turkish refinery firm Tupras. Satellite-tracking data
analyzed by the AP last showed the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker had turned
and headed toward the port of Bandar-e Jask in Iran.

Attention began focusing on the Suez Rajan in February 2022, when the group
United Against Nuclear Iran said it suspected the tanker carried oil from Iran’s
Khargh Island, its main oil distribution terminal in the Persian Gulf. Satellite
photos and shipping data analyzed at the time by the AP supported the
allegation.

For months, the ship sat in the South China Sea off the northeast coast of
Singapore before suddenly sailing for the Texas coast without explanation. The
vessel discharged its cargo to another tanker in August, which released its oil
in Houston as part of a Justice Department order.

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.

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, which patrols the Mideast, did not respond to a
request for comment over the incident.

After the vessel, then-Suez Rajan, headed for America, Iran seized two
tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, including one with cargo for major U.S. oil
company Chevron Corp. In July, the top commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s
naval arm threatened further action against anyone offloading the Suez Rajan,
with state media linking the recent seizures to the cargo’s fate.

WATCH: How mental health experts are handling the Israel-Hamas war’s lasting
impact on children

Since the collapse of Iran’s nuclear deal, waters around the strait have seen a
series of ship seizures by Iran, as well as assaults targeting shipping that the
U.S. Navy has blamed on Tehran. Iran and the Navy also have had a series of
tense encounters in the waterway, though recent attention has been focused on
the Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

The U.S. and its allies also have been seizing Iranian oil cargoes since 2019 to
enforce sanctions over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. That has led to a
series of attacks in the Mideast attributed to the Islamic Republic, as well as
ship seizures by Iranian military and paramilitary forces that threaten global
shipping.

The Houthis say their attacks are aimed at halting the suffering of Palestinians
in Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. However, the rebels have
increasingly targeted ships with tenuous or no ties to Israel.

Meanwhile, satellite tracking data analyzed by the AP on Thursday showed that an
Iranian cargo vessel suspected of being a spying platform in the Red Sea had
left the waterway. The data showed the Behshad had transited through the Bab
el-Mandeb Strait into the Gulf of Aden.

The Behshad has been in the Red Sea since 2021 off Eritrea’s Dahlak archipelago.
It arrived there after Iran removed the Saviz, another suspected spy base in the
Red Sea that had suffered damage in an attack that analysts attributed to Israel
amid a wider shadow war of ship attacks in the region.

Associated Press journalist Amir Vahdat in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,
contributed to this report.

Left: St Nikolas ship X1 oil tanker involved in U.S.-Iran dispute in the Gulf of
Oman which state media says was seized is seen in the Tokyo bay, Japan, October
4, 2020, in this handout picture. Photo by Daisuke Nimura/Handout via REUTERS

* South Africa argues Israel is committing genocide in Gaza at UN top court as
a landmark case begins

By Mike Corder, Raf Casert, Associated Press

* Houthis launch sea drone to attack ships hours after U.S., allies issue
‘final warning’

By Tara Copp, Associated Press

* Houthis show no sign of ending attacks on ships in the Red Sea, U.S.
commander says

By Rebecca Santana, Associated Press

GO DEEPER

* gulf of oman
* houthi rebels
* iran
* israel-hamas war
* oil tanker
* yemen

By —

Jon Gambrell, Associated Press Jon Gambrell, Associated Press

Jon Gambrell, the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press,
has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other
locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006.

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