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The Iranian Navy announced the detention of an American oil tanker in the waters of the Sea of Oman based on an “Iranian judicial order,” coinciding with a Turkish oil refinery company announcing that it had lost contact with its ship.
The Iranian Navy said that the tanker was seized pursuant to a “judicial decision,” and that the detained tanker “stole an oil shipment owned by Iran under the direction of the United States,” as it put it.
Two British maritime security agencies reported this morning that gunmen had boarded a ship in the Gulf of Oman, close to Iran, and then contact with it was lost.
The British Maritime Trade Operations Authority explained – in a statement – that the accident occurred about 50 nautical miles from the coast of the city of Sohar in the Sultanate of Oman.
She added that about five armed people wearing black military uniforms and black masks boarded an oil tanker. She pointed out that contact was then lost with the oil tanker, which headed toward the Iranian coast.
The Greek company “Empire Navigation” said that the oil tanker belonged to it.
Turkish oil tanker
In conjunction with the accident, the Turkish oil refinery company Tupras announced that it had lost contact with the “St. Nicholas” ship, which is transporting 140,000 tons of Iraqi crude oil, stressing that the accident would not affect the company’s refining operations.
The company (privately) said – in a statement – that the ship carrying the Marshall Islands flag was transporting points from the ports of the Iraqi city of Basra, before contact with it was cut off.
The company confirmed that there were no Turkish citizens among the crew of the ship owned by the Greek company Empire Navigation.
The statement did not address the location of the loss of contact with the ship and did not accuse any party, but it coincides with reports of gunmen, likely Iranian soldiers, seizing an oil tanker in the Sea of Oman.
Data from the analytics company Vortexa indicate that about a fifth of the global supplies of crude oil and petroleum products transported by sea pass through Strait of HormuzIt serves as a bottleneck between Iran and the Sultanate of Oman.
