DUBAI, May 3 (Reuters) – Iran has seized a second oil tanker in a week on Wednesday in Gulf waters, the U.S. Navy mentioned, the newest escalation in a sequence of seizures or assaults on business vessels in Gulf waters since 2019.
The Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet of the U.S. Navy mentioned the Panama-flagged oil tanker Niovi was seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) at 6:20 a.m. (0220 GMT) whereas passing via the slim Strait of Hormuz.
In Iran’s first response, Tehran’s prosecutor introduced the oil tanker was seized on a judicial order following a grievance by a plaintiff, the judiciary’s Mizan information company mentioned. No additional particulars had been offered.
The incident comes after Iran on Thursday seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman known as the Advantage Sweet. That tanker is being held by Iranian authorities in Bandar Abbas, the Marshall Islands flag registry mentioned on Tuesday.
Maritime safety agency Ambrey has mentioned it believed the Advantage Sweet’s seizure by Iran was in response to a latest seizure by way of a courtroom order by the United States of an oil cargo aboard the Marshall Islands tanker Suez Rajan.
The Niovi oil tanker seized on Wednesday had been travelling from Dubai towards the UAE’s Fujairah port when it was pressured by IRGCN boats to vary course in the direction of Iranian territorial waters, the Navy mentioned.
The Niovi final reported its place at 0231 GMT on Wednesday off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz with Fujairah as its vacation spot, Refinitiv ship monitoring knowledge confirmed.
According to the International Maritime Organization delivery database,, the Niovi’s proprietor is Grand Financing Co, and the ship is managed by Greece-based Smart Tankers, which didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark.
About a fifth of the world’s crude oil and oil merchandise passes via the Strait of Hormuz, a slim choke level between Iran and Oman, in line with knowledge from analytics agency Vortexa.
“Heightened military activity and geopolitical tensions in these regions continue to pose serious threats to commercial vessels,” the Marshall Islands flag registry mentioned in an advisory on Tuesday.
“Associated with these threats is the potential for miscalculation or misidentification, which could lead to aggressive actions.”
Since 2019, there have been a sequence of assaults on delivery in the strategic Gulf waters at instances of rigidity between the United States and Iran.
Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact with world powers have stalled since September over a vary of points, together with the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on standard protests, Tehran’s sale of drones to Russia and acceleration of its nuclear program.
Writing by Lisa Barrington, Editing by Louise Heavens
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