DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Satellite images analyzed Sunday by The Associated Press show two oil tankers recently seized by Iran off the coast of one of its main port cities in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Photos from Planet Labs PBC showed the Advantage Sweet and Niovi anchored just south of Bandar Abbas near a naval base in the Iranian province port city of Hormozgan on Saturday. Their capture represents just the latest seizure of ships by Iran amid tensions with the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program, though it appears the two ships may have been seized for different reasons.
Iran seized the Marshall Islands-flagged Advantage Sweet, crewed by 23 Indians and one Russian, on April 27. while traveling in the Gulf of Oman. Tehran claimed the ship had struck another ship, although the Advantage Sweet’s tracking data showed no erratic behavior on its voyage. Iran has made claims in the past about seizing ships to cover ships being seized to use as pawns in negotiations with the West.
The Advantage Sweet was carrying Kuwaiti crude oil for the US energy company Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, California at the time of its capture. And your seizure comes as Another tanker believed to be carrying Iranian crude disappeared from anchorage off Singapore a year after being identified as an attempt to evade US sanctions..
The Financial Times, as well as the maritime intelligence firm Ambrey, reported that the ship named Suez Rajan was seized on the orders of US authorities. US officials and those associated with the Suez Rajan have not responded to questions about the disappearance of the tanker as it headed west.
The Niovi, a Panama-flagged tanker, was seized by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday. as it left a dry dock in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, bound for Fujairah on the UAE’s east coast. Although she was not carrying any cargo, S&P Global Market Intelligence data seen by AP showed that the Niovi in July 2020 received oil from a ship then known as the Oman Pride.
In August 2021, the US Treasury sanctioned the Oman Pride and others associated with the vessel for being “involved in an international oil smuggling ring” that supported the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guard expeditionary unit that operates throughout the Middle East.
Separately, purported emails posted online by Wikiran, a website that requests leaked documents from the Islamic Republic, suggest that cargo carried by Niovi was sold to companies in China without permission.
United Against a Nuclear Iran, which has tracked Tehran-sanctioned crude shipments, “strongly suspects that the Niovi seizure is related to a dispute over an Iranian oil shipment,” said Claire Jungman, the organization’s chief of staff. Iran has said it seized the Niovi under an unspecified court order in Tehran.
Niovi officials did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment. The Greek Coast Guard has said the Niovi was made up of Greek, Filipino and Sri Lankan sailors.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, an internet account describing itself as a group of hackers claimed responsibility for allegedly taking down websites associated with Iran’s Foreign Ministry. Iranian media did not immediately acknowledge the claims by the GhyamSarnegouni account, whose Farsi name means “Rise to Overthrow.”
However, the Foreign Ministry’s website remained down for hours due to what it called “updates and scheduled maintenance.”
Cached versions of the websites of Iranian diplomatic posts in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Munich, Germany and Seoul, South Korea appeared to have been defaced with a message in Farsi reading: “Death to Khamenei, Hail Rajavi ”. Khamenei refers to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while Rajavi likely refers to Massoud Rajavi, the missing leader of the Iranian exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.
“There is a great revolution in Iran, the uprising will go until the demolition of the palace of oppression,” the message said.
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
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