An online firm tracking crude oil shipments says Iran’s seizure of the Panama-flagged vessel Niovi was ‘staged’.
In the latest escalation in a series of attacks on commercial vessels since 2019, Iran seized a second oil tanker in a week on Wednesday in Persian Gulf waters.
The Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said the Panama-flagged oil tanker Niovi was seized by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) at 6:20 a.m. (0220 GMT) while passing through the narrow Strait of Hormuz.
TankersTrackers.com said Wednesday that “given the tanker’s history of receiving Iranian oil during the sanctions era as well as being currently empty of cargo, we believe today’s actions were entirely staged.”
Its satellite imagery shows the empty tanker was forcefully redirected by around a dozen IRGC Navy speedboats to the anchorage of Larak and Qeshm Islands south of Iran.
The Niovi oil tanker had been travelling from Dubai toward the UAE's Fujairah port when it was forced by IRGC boats to change course towards Iranian territorial waters.
Claire Jungman, Chief of Staff of US-based non-profit advocacy organization United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) said a tweet that after reviewing leaked documents UANI strongly suspects the seizure of the Niovi is related to a dispute over a shipment of Iranian oil, tied to the sanctioned company ASB Group.
She further claimed that the oil from the Niovi was sold to another company, without ASB Group's permission while there are numerous mentions by ASB Group stating that it did not receive payment for the cargo.
“We believe that this seizure was the result of a judicial order following a complaint by a plaintiff,” added Jungman.
ASB is a group of companies owned by a Turkish businessman, which is under US sanctions due to cooperation with the IRGC Quds Force.
Meanwhile, Vedant Patel, a Deputy Spokesperson at the US State Department, told reporters that the Biden administration and the "international community" want Iran and its Navy to release the ships and crews.
According to Patel, Iran's harassment of vessels and interference with navigation rights in regional and international waters violates international law and threatens regional security and stability.
Separately, Senator James Lankford in reaction to the vessel seizure said Iran remains the top threat in the Middle East. “President Biden must push policy of strength to stop Iran’s behavior,” he added.
The seizure of the Panama-flagged vessel comes after Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman called the Advantage Sweet last Thursday.
Maritime security firm Ambrey said it believed the Advantage Sweet's seizure by Iran was in response to a recent seizure via a court order by the United States of an oil cargo aboard the Marshall Islands tanker Suez Rajan.