Iran Navy executes court order, reclaims US-seized oil tanker

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
11 Jan 2024 16:02
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The Iranian Navy has reportedly detained an American oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, according to an announcement by the Public Relations of the Iranian Army Navy.

Photo from the Deylaman destroyer launch, November 27, 2023. (Iranian Navy)

Iran's navy has confiscated an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman waters following "a court order" authorizing the move, state media reported on Thursday.

"The Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran captured an American oil tanker in the waters of the Gulf of Oman, in accordance with a court order," the official IRNA news agency said.

Earlier today, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it received information about an incident in the Gulf of Oman. The report indicated that four to five armed individuals, dressed in military-style black uniforms with black masks, boarded a vessel approximately 50 nautical miles off the city of Sohar in Oman around 03:30 GMT.

According to UKMTO, a security officer reported hearing "unknown voices" over the phone, including the captain's voice. Subsequently, the vessel altered its course toward Iranian territorial waters, and communication with it was lost.

UKMTO WARNING 006/JAN/2024 UPDATE 003https://t.co/6a9TLpaLrg #MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/qbF6AuP33f
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) January 11, 2024

Last April, the United States seized the Iranian oil tanker Suez Rajan, anchoring it off the coast of Texas. This occurred before the tanker MR Euphrates sailing under the Liberian flag, transferred the cargo from the Iranian ship. The value of the shipment was estimated at around 56 million dollars, as ordered by the US authorities.

In response to the US move, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, said at the time, in a press statement in the city of Qazvin, west of Tehran, that if the Americans decided to empty an oil tanker carrying a shipment of Iranian oil held in America, “one of the country’s policies, since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, so far, has been to respond based on the principle of reciprocity, which is a well-established policy that no one can prevent.”