Satellite images analyzed yesterday show two oil tankers recently seized by Iran off the coast of one of its key port cities on the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The photographs from Planet Labs PBC showed the Advantage Sweet and the Niovi anchored just south of Bandar Abbas near a naval base in the port city in Hormozgan Province on Saturday.
Their capture represents just the latest ship seizure conducted by Iran amid tensions with the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program, although it appears the two ships might have been taken for different reasons.
Photo: Planet Labs PBC via AP
Iran seized the Marshall Islands-flagged Advantage Sweet, staffed by 23 Indians and one Russian, on April 27 as it traveled in the Gulf of Oman.
Tehran said the vessel had struck another ship, although tracking data for the Advantage Sweet showed no erratic behavior on its trip.
Iran has made claims in the past over ship seizures to cover for the vessels being taken to use as pawns in negotiations with the West.
The Advantage Sweet carried Kuwaiti crude oil for US energy firm Chevron Corp at the time of its capture, and its seizure came as another tanker believed to be carrying Iranian crude disappeared from anchorage off Singapore a year after being identified as trying to evade US sanctions.
The Financial Times, as well as the maritime intelligence firm Ambrey, both have reported that Suez Rajan was seized on order of US authorities. US officials and those associated with the vessel have not responded to questions about the tanker’s disappearance while on a path heading West.
The Niovi, a Panama-flagged tanker, was seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy on Wednesday as it left a dry dock in Dubai bound for Fujairah on the United Arab Emirates eastern coast.
While not carrying any cargo, data from S&P Global Market Intelligence showed that the vessel in July 2020 received oil from a ship known then as the Oman Pride.
The US Department of the Treasury in August 2021 sanctioned the Oman Pride and others associated with the vessel over being “involved in an international oil smuggling network” that supported the Quds Force, the expeditionary unit of the Revolutionary Guard that operates across the Mideast.
Separately, purported e-mails published online by Wikiran, a Web site that solicits leaked documents from Iran, suggest that cargo carried by the Niovi was sold on to firms in China without permission.
United Against a Nuclear Iran, which has tracked sanctioned crude shipments by Tehran, “strongly suspects the seizure of the Niovi is related to a dispute over a shipment of Iranian oil,” said Claire Jungman, chief of staff of the organization.
Iran has said it seized the Niovi over an unspecified court order in Tehran.
The managers of the Niovi did not respond to repeated telephone calls for comment. The Greek Coast Guard have said the Niovi was staffed by Greek, Filipino and Sri Lankan sailors.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing