“US-flagged tanker was boarded by armed individuals off the coast.”

Last Thursday, an incident involving an oil tanker caught the attention of maritime authorities. The Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker St Nikolas was boarded by armed individuals off the coast of Oman, causing concern over its fate. According to UK maritime sources, the tanker appeared to have changed course towards Iran, reigniting tensions geopolitics in the region.

Armed intruders boarded the oil tanker St Nikolas as it sailed near the city of Sohar in Oman. According to reports from British maritime security company Ambrey, the tanker's AIS tracking system was switched off, raising suspicions about its route towards the Iranian port of Bandar-e-Jask. The incident raised concerns about the safety of maritime oil transport, highlighting the vulnerability of oil tankers in conflict regions.

US seizure of oil tanker St Nikolas

In 2023, the St Nikolas was seized by the United States in a sanctions enforcement operation. when she sailed under a different name, Suez Rajan.

The United States said at the time that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was trying to smuggle Iranian oil to China in violation of US sanctions. .

O ship loaded 145 metric tons of oil at the Iraqi port of Basra and was heading to Aliaga in western Turkey via the Suez Canal, its operator Empire Navigation told Reuters, adding that it had lost contact with the ship. While Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis have since October attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea to show support for Hamas Islamists fighting the Israeli offensive in Gaza, these incidents have focused on the Bab al-Mandab Strait. , southwest of the Arabian Peninsula.

An incident near the Strait of Hormuz

Thursday's incident is located near the Strait of Hormuz, between Oman and Iran.

The ship is manned by a crew of 19, including 18 Filipino citizens and one Greek national, the operator said, adding that it was chartered by Turkish oil refinery Tupras.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations Authority (UKMTO) said on Thursday it had received a report that a ship, located around 50 nautical miles east of the coast of Oman, had been boarded by four to five armed people.

The armed intruders wore black military-style uniforms and black masks.

UKMTO said the security chief reported that the ship had changed course towards Iranian territorial waters and that communication with the tanker had been lost.

The UK authority, which provides maritime safety information, said it was unable to make further contact with the ship and authorities were still investigating the incident.

The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment or additional information.

The Suez Rajan was carrying more than 980.000 barrels of Iranian crude oil last year when it was seized and the oil confiscated in the US sanctions enforcement operation.

It was not possible to offload Iranian oil for almost two and a half months due to fears of secondary sanctions on the ships used to unload it. It was renamed St Nikolas after the cargoes were unloaded.

(Reuters – Reporting by Jana Choukeir, Ahmed Elimam and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Additional reporting by Andrew Mills in Doha and Eleftherios Papadimas in Athens; writing by Nadine Awadalla; editing by Edmund Klamann and Ros Russell)

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