UN-affiliated body: Oil tanker seized by Iran
A UN-affiliated body has confirmed that Iran “seized” an oil tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on July 5th and brought it into its own waters. It remains unclear how and with what means Iran seized the tanker in question.
A United Nations body confirmed on Sunday (July 19) the news of an oil tanker being “seized” by the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Persian Gulf. This news had previously been published by the Associated Press news agency on Wednesday, July 15 (Tir 25).
According to the organization, the tanker in question, named MT Gulf Sky, was carrying crude oil, and the United States had intended to seize it due to circumventing international sanctions.
According to a report, 28 crew members of the ship were Indian workers who fled from Iran to India on July 15 without passports after disembarking from the ship.
The International Labour Organization, citing the “Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network,” states that the aforementioned workers have not received wages since March when the ship departed Khor Fakkan, a port on the eastern coast of the UAE.
Iranian media outlets did not mention the news of the oil tanker seizure and its return to Iran. American officials also remained silent on the matter.
Last May, the U.S. Department of Justice accused two Iranian citizens of attempting to illegally transfer approximately 12 million dollars through intermediary companies to purchase an oil tanker, which was then called MT Nautica.
Documents available to the court showed that in addition to Iran’s oil company, the Quds Force, the external arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also played a role in this transaction.
Although the tanker purchase deal was halted and the ship came under the control of the UAE government, it is still unclear how it came into Iranian possession to enable it to transport crude oil.
The method of “seizing” the tanker and transferring it to Iranian territorial waters and around Hormuz Island also remains unclear.
The Islamic Republic of Iran uses various methods to circumvent its oil sanctions. These include the use of tankers flying the flags of other countries, as well as selling at sea and transferring oil from one tanker to another.
