Jan 11, 2024 at 1:17 PM Update: 34 minutes ago
Armed men boarded an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, between Iran and Oman, on Thursday morning. This was reported by the UKMTO, the department of the British Navy that monitors shipping around the Middle East.
According to the UKMTO, the oil tanker has changed course towards Iranian territorial waters. Afterwards contact with the ship was lost. The British Navy is investigating the incident.
Four or five armed men are said to have boarded a ship some 50 nautical miles (about 90 kilometers) from the Omani port city of Sohar. According to the UKMTO, they were dressed in military uniforms.
Greek shipping company Empire Navigation confirms that it has lost contact with a ship in that area. It would be the St Nikolas, an oil tanker.
According to Empire Navigation, there are nineteen crew members on board. Eighteen of them are from the Philippines, the other crew member is from Greece. The ship sails from Iraq to Turkey and is loaded with oil.
Ship was previously involved in a riot between the US and Iran
It is striking that the same ship was at the center of a riot between the United States and Iran in 2022 and 2023. At that time the ship was still called the Suez Rajan.
The US then suspected the ship of transporting oil from Iran to China. That violated trade sanctions imposed by the US on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which is in charge in Iran. These sanctions were in place because of Iran’s nuclear program.
According to news agency Reuters the US military seized the oil tanker in May 2023 and had its cargo transferred to another cargo ship. Iran then threatened to hijack other oil tankers around the Persian Gulf, which borders the Gulf of Oman.
When the US Navy released the Suez Rajan, the company changed the ship’s name to its current name St Nikolas.
Beeld: Getty Images
Read more about:
IranUnited StatesForeign
2024-01-11 12:17:38
#Gunmen #enter #oil #tanker #Gulf #Oman
