Iran seizes oil tanker in Gulf, US Navy says

By Reuters: Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker throughout the Gulf of Oman in worldwide waters on Thursday, the U.S. Navy talked about, the newest in a group of seizures or assaults on industrial vessels in delicate Gulf waters since 2019.

Iran’s navy talked about it had seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker throughout the Gulf of Oman after it collided with an Iranian boat, injuring a variety of crewmen, Iranian state media reported.

“Two members of the boat’s crew are missing and several were injured due to the collision of the ship with the boat,” a navy assertion talked about.

The U.S. Navy acknowledged the vessel as a result of the Advantage Sweet. According to Refinitiv ship monitoring info, it is a Suezmax crude tanker that had been chartered by oil principal Chevron CVX.N and had last docked in Kuwait.

Chevron talked about it is acutely aware of the state of affairs involving the Advantage Sweet and is “in contact with the vessel operator with the hope of resolving this situation as soon as possible,” a spokesperson talked about.

The vessel’s trip spot was listed as a result of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico port of Houston, ship monitoring info confirmed.

Its supervisor is listed as Genel Denizcilik Nakliyati AS. The Turkey-based agency did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Marshall Islands Maritime Administrator talked about it was acutely aware of the state of affairs and was in communication with the vessel’s proprietor/operator nevertheless declined to comment further.

“Iran’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy,” the U.S. Navy talked about, together with Iran has before now two years unlawfully seized on the very least 5 industrial vessels throughout the Middle East.

The U.S. Navy added that after sending a P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to observe the state of affairs, “we have since been able to determine the IRIN (Iranian navy) conducted the seizure”.

Iranian authorities did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

About a fifth of the world’s crude oil and oil merchandise cross by the use of the Strait of Hormuz, a slim choke degree between Iran and Oman which the Advantage Sweet had handed by the use of, based mostly on info from analytics company Vortexa.

BOARDED VIA HELICOPTER

Maritime security agency Ambrey talked about the vessel had been boarded by means of helicopter. “The vessel did not show any signs of conducting evasive manoeuvres prior to the incident,” it talked about.

Munro Anderson, with maritime security agency Dryad, talked about individually that Iran usually detained vessels for “leverage or signalling”.

“The working hypothesis at the moment is that it could either be an arbitrary detention of a vessel by Iran in response to the U.S. sailing its first unmanned vessel through the region last week – as a show of force,” he talked about. “Or, it could be in response to the sanctions on the 24th (of April) by the U.S. against personnel in Iran connected to the IRGC (elite Revolutionary Guards).”

Since 2019, there have been a group of assaults on transport throughout the strategic Gulf waters at events of stress between the United States and Iran.

Iran last November launched two Greek-flagged tankers it seized throughout the Gulf in May in response to the confiscation of oil by the United States from an Iranian-flagged tanker off the Greek coast.

Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact with world powers have stalled since September over a selection of factors, along with the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on well-liked protests, Tehran’s sale of drones to Russia and acceleration of its nuclear program.

The U.S. Navy, whose Fifth Fleet depends throughout the Gulf island state of Bahrain, known as on Iran to instantly launch the tanker.

The ship issued a distress identify by means of the seizure, the U.S. Navy assertion talked about.

According to the International Maritime Organisation transport database, Advantage Sweet is owned by a China-registered agency known as SPDBFL No One Hundred & Eighty-Seven (Tianjin) Ship Leasing Co Ltd.