Aerial view of a tanker.
Bakto | moment | Good pictures
An oil tanker was boarded by armed men near the Gulf of Oman on Thursday and diverted towards Iranian waters, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations.
UKMTO Reported on social media The unnamed vessel was boarded by four or five unauthorized persons early Thursday morning about 50 nautical miles east of Sohar, Oman.
“Unauthorized boarders are reported to be wearing military-style black uniforms with black masks,” the UKMTO said, adding that the vessel “changed course towards Iranian territorial waters and communications with the vessel were cut off.”
TankerTrackers.com identified the vessel as the St Nicholas, formerly known as the Rajan, which was previously involved in an alleged violation of US sanctions in 2022.
A media spokesperson for Empire Navigation, which manages the St. Nicholas, told CNBC that it had lost contact with the ship on Thursday, but could not confirm an unauthorized boarding. The 18 Filipinos and one Greek crew were on their way to the Turkish port of Aliqa after loading crude oil from Iraq's Basra oil terminal.
It was not immediately clear who boarded the ship. Iran's Revolutionary Guards have seized ships near the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman and used them for political gain.
St. Nicholas has previously been embroiled in a dispute between Iran and the United States
In October, Empire Navigation said it had settled a violation of US sanctions with the US Justice Department when the vessel, named Rajan, loaded Iranian oil permitted between January and February 2022 in a ship-to-ship transfer near Singapore. . As part of the fallout, Empire Navigation transported the sanctioned cargo to Houston, where it could be seized by the DoJ.
Thursday's incident is the latest in a series of Red Sea attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement targeting merchant ships, adding to the maritime risk of the heavily trafficked trade route. The Houthis say their actions are in retaliation for Israel's war in the Gaza Strip.
