The United States Navy reported on Thursday that Iran seized a Marshall Islands-registered oil tanker in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. This was the latest in a string of commercial vessel seizures or attacks in sensitive Gulf waters since 2019.
Iran’s military said it had held onto a Marshall Islands-hailed oil big hauler in the Bay of Oman after it slammed into an Iranian boat, harming a few crew members, Iranian state media revealed.
An army statement stated, “Two members of the boat’s crew are missing and several were injured due to the collision of the ship with the boat.”
The ship was called the Advantage Sweet by the U.S. Navy. It is a Suezmax crude tanker that was chartered by oil major Chevron (CVX.N) and had last docked in Kuwait, according to Refinitiv ship tracking data.
A spokesperson for Chevron stated that the company is “in contact with the vessel operator with the hope of resolving this situation as soon as possible” and that it is aware of the situation involving the Advantage Sweet.
The vessel’s objective was recorded as the U.S. Inlet of Mexico port of Houston, transport following information showed.
Genel Denizcilik Nakliyati AS is listed as the business’s manager. The company with its headquarters in Turkey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Marshall Islands Sea Director said it knew about the circumstance and was in correspondence with the vessel’s proprietor/administrator however declined to remark further.
According to the U.S. Navy, Iran’s “continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy.” Iran has also illegally seized at least five commercial vessels in the Middle East over the past two years.
“We have since been able to determine the IRIN (Iranian navy) conducted the seizure,” the U.S. Navy added after sending a P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to monitor the situation.
A request for comment from Reuters was not immediately responded to.
According to data from analytics company Vortexa, the Advantage Sweet had passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow choke point between Iran and Oman through which about a fifth of the world’s crude oil and oil products pass.
Ambrey, a maritime security firm, reported that a helicopter had been used to board the vessel. Prior to the incident, “the vessel did not exhibit any signs of conducting evasive maneuvers,” it stated.
Separately, maritime security firm Dryad’s Munro Anderson stated that Iran typically detained vessels for “leverage or signaling.”
According to him, “The working hypothesis at the moment is that it could either be an arbitrary detention of a vessel by Iran in response to the United States sailing its first unmanned vessel through the region last week – as a show of force.” Or, it could be in response to the sanctions imposed by the United States on members of the Iranian IRGC.
During times of tension between the United States and Iran, there have been a number of attacks on ships in the strategic Gulf waters since 2019.
Iran last November delivered two Greek-hailed big haulers it held onto in the Bay in May because of the seizure of oil by the US from an Iranian-hailed big hauler off the Greek coast.
Over a variety of issues, including the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on popular protests, Tehran’s sale of drones to Russia, and the acceleration of its nuclear program, indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact with world powers have stalled since September.
The U.S. Naval force, whose Fifth Armada is based at the Bay island province of Bahrain, approached Iran to deliver the big hauler right away.
According to a statement from the U.S. Navy, during the seizure, the ship made a distress call.
As per the Global Oceanic Association transporting information base, the Benefit Sweet is claimed by a China-enrolled organization called SPDBFL Nobody Hundred and 87 (Tianjin) Boat Renting Co Ltd.
