DUBAI
\nSatellite images analyzed Sunday by The Associated Press show two oil tankers recently seized by Iran off the coast of one of its key port cities on the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
\nThe photos 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 Iran\u2019s Hormozgan province Saturday. Their capture represents just the latest ship seizure conducted by Iran amid tensions with the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program, though it appears the two ships may have been taken for different reasons.
\nIran 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 claimed the vessel had struck another ship, though 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.
\nThe Advantage Sweet carried Kuwaiti crude oil for American energy firm Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, California, at the time of its capture. And its seizure comes 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.
\nThe Financial Times, as well as the maritime intelligence firm Ambrey, both have reported that ship named Suez Rajan was seized on order of American authorities. US officials and those associated with the Suez Rajan have not responded to questsions about the tanker\u2019s disappearance while on a path heading West.
\nThe Niovi, a Panama-flagged tanker, was seized by Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Wednesday as it left a dry dock in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, bound for Fujairah on the UAE\u2019s eastern coast. While not carrying any cargo, data from S&P Global Market Intelligence seen by the AP showed the Niovi in July 2020 received oil from a ship known then as the Oman Pride.
\nThe US Treasury in August 2021 sanctioned the Oman Pride and others associated with the vessel over it being \u201cinvolved in an international oil smuggling network\u201d that supported the Quds Force, the expeditionary unit of the Revolutionary Guard that operates across the Mideast.
\nSeparately, purported emails published online by Wikiran, a website that solicits leaked documents from the Islamic Republic, suggest that cargo carried by the Niovi was sold onto firms in China without permission.
\nUnited Against a Nuclear Iran, which has tracked sanctioned crude shipments by Tehran, \u201cstrongly suspects the seizure of the Niovi is related to a dispute over a shipment of Iranian oil,\u201d said Claire Jungman, the chief of staff of the organization. Iran has said it seized the Niovi over an unspecified court order in Tehran.
\nThe managers of the Niovi did not respond to repeated telephone calls for comment.
\nThe Greek Coast Guard have said the Niovi was staffed by Greek, Filipino and Sri Lanka sailors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DUBAI Satellite images analyzed Sunday by The Associated Press 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 photos from Planet Labs PBC showed the Advantage Sweet and the Niovi anchored just south of Bandar Abbas near a naval […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-329949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n