Aerial view of a tanker.
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An oil tanker was boarded by armed individuals near the Gulf of Oman on Thursday and appeared to change course toward Iranian waters, according to the U.K. Marine Trade Operations.
The UKMTO reported on social media that an unnamed ship was boarded by four or five unauthorized people early Thursday at 50 nautical miles east of Sohar, Oman.
“Unauthorised boarders are reported to be wearing military style black uniforms with black masks,” the UKMTO said, adding that the vessel “has altered course towards Iranian territorial waters and communications with the vessel have been lost.”
TankerTrackers.com identified the vessel as the St. Nikolas, previously known as the Rajan, which was previously involved in an incident of allegedly violating U.S. sanctions in 2022.
A media spokesperson for Empire Navigation, which manages the St. Nikolas, told CNBC that it lost contact with the vessel on Thursday, but could not confirm an unauthorized boarding. The vessel was en route to Turkish port Aliaga after loading crude from the Iraqi Basrah Oil Terminal and was staffed by 18 Philippine and one Greek crew members.
It was not immediately clear who boarded the vessel. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have previously seized ships near the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman and used them for political leverage.
The St. Nikolas has previously been involved in a dispute between Iran and the U.S.
In October, Empire Navigation said it resolved a violation of U.S. sanctions with the U.S. Department of Justice, which determined that the vessel, then known as Rajan, loaded sanctioned Iranian oil between January and February 2022 through a ship-to-ship transfer near Singapore. As part of the fallout, Empire Navigation transported the sanctioned cargo to Houston, where it could be forfeited to the DoJ.
Thursday’s incident is the latest in a series of Red Sea attacks, with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement targeting commercial vessels and compounding the maritime risk of a high-traffic trade route. The Houthi say they are carrying out their activity in retaliation for Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
