TEHRAN, Mac 7 (NNN-MNA) – An Iranian court has ordered to confiscate the crude oil worth 50 million U.S. dollars, aboard an oil tanker that Iran seized in the Sea of Oman last year, it was reported yesterday.
The unloading of the U.S. cargo is said to be a retaliatory measure against U.S. sanctions, which prevented the sale of critical medicine for Iranian victims of a rare skin disease.
The U.S.-bound Marshall Island-flagged oil tanker, named Advantage Sweet, was seized by Iranian naval forces in Apr last year, south of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran said, the seizure was made after the tanker had collided with an Iranian fishing craft, which resulted in the injury and missing of a number of the Iranian crew members, and had attempted to flee the scene in serious breach of international laws and regulations.
The United States, in Aug, last year, unloaded a cargo of Iranian oil, off the coast of Texas, from a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, named Suez Rajan, which it had seized earlier.
The same tanker, although under the new name of St Nikolas, was seized by Iran’s navy in the Sea of Oman, in Jan this year, following a judicial order, with the country’s authorities citing the reason as retaliation for the U.S. “stealing” of Iran’s oil in Apr, 2023.– NNN-MNA
