The Iranian navy seized an oil tanker on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, a move that could further escalate tensions in the region.
Four or five armed people in black military-style uniforms and masks boarded the Marshall Islands-flagged St. Nikolas around 50 nautical miles east of Oman’s coast, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) authority said.
“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 Athens-based Empire Navigation shipping company told the Associated Press.
The crew of the ship is made up of 19 people, including 18 Filipino nationals and one Greek national, Reuters reported.
Iran’s state-run television acknowledged the seizure, with state TV saying, “The violating oil tanker Suez Rajan … stole Iranian oil by leading it to the Americans and delivered it to the Americans.”
The incident comes amid the ongoing Houthi attacks against commercial vessels in Middle Eastern waterways. The Yemen-based Houthis have carried out more than two dozen of these attacks since mid-November, forcing major shipping companies to reconsider their ships’ transits.
They launched a “complex attack” this weekend that included 18 one-way attack drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile. The Houthis’ attacks have continued despite warnings from the United States and other countries.
U.S. military leaders created an international task force to escort commercial vessels in the region. Their operations are defensive in nature.
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The vessel was previously known as the Suez Rajan, and last year, it was confiscated by the U.S. for carrying more than 980,000 barrels of Iranian crude oil. The vessel was unable to unload the Iranian crude for nearly two and half months over fears of secondary sanctions on vessels used to unload it.
The U.S. Justice Department ultimately seized a million barrels of Iranian crude oil.
