DUBAI, Jan 11 (Reuters) – Iranseized a tanker with Iraqi crude destined for Turkey on Thursday in retaliation for the confiscation final 12 months of the identical vessel and its oil by the United States, Iranian state media reported, a transfer prone to stoke regional tensions.
The seizure of the Marshall Islands-flagged St Nikolas coincides with weeks of assaults by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militias concentrating on Red Sea transport routes.
“After the theft of Iranian oil by the United States final 12 months, St Nikolas tanker was seized by Iran‘s Navy this morning with a judicial order … it’s en path to Iranian ports,” the semi-official Fars information company reported, citing an announcement by the Navy.
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Oil tanker concerned in U.S.-Iran dispute boarded by armed guards close to Oman. REUTERS./
In Washington, the Pentagon mentioned Iranian forces unlawfully boarded the St Nikolas within the Gulf of Oman and compelled it to alter course towards Iranian territorial waters.
The White House condemned the seizure.
“No justification in any way to grab it, none in any way. They must let it go,” White House nationwide safety spokesperson John Kirby mentioned.
The St Nikolas was boarded by armed intruders because it sailed near the Omani metropolis of Sohar, in keeping with British maritime safety agency Ambrey, and its AIS monitoring system was turned off because it headed within the course of the Iranian port of Bandar-e-Jask.