US demands release of oil tanker taken by Iran's navy off Oman - CNA

COMMUNICATIONS LOST

Ambrey, a British maritime risk company, said the group which boarded the St Nikolas covered the ship's cameras. A security officer "reported hearing unknown voices over the phone along with the master's voice", it added.

Communications have been lost with the vessel, which was carrying 19 crew - 18 Filipinos and one Greek - the tanker's Greece-based management company Empire Navigation told AFP.

The vessel had been loaded with 145,000 tonnes of crude oil in Basra, Iraq and was destined for Aliaga in Turkey via the Suez Canal, Empire added.

Ambrey said the recently renamed tanker was previously prosecuted and fined for carrying sanctioned Iranian oil, which was confiscated by US authorities.

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

In September, the United States said it had seized the Suez Rajan and its cargo of 980,000 barrels of crude oil months earlier.

The US Department of Justice said at the time that the oil on the Greek-managed tanker was allegedly being sold by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to China.

Shortly after that seizure, Iran seized 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 travelled from Dubai to Fujairah.

The Gulf of Oman, a key route for the oil industry that separates Oman and Iran, has witnessed a series of hijackings and attacks over the years, often involving Iran.

Shipping in the resource-rich region is also on heightened alert following weeks of drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

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2024-01-11 18:22:05Z
CBMiYWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vd29ybGQvdXMtZGVtYW5kcy1yZWxlYXNlLW9pbC10YW5rZXItdGFrZW4taXJhbnMtbmF2eS1vbWFuLTQwNDEzMjbSAQA