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Tankers still held as bargaining chip

The Iran was still holding the 'Niovi' as a “bargaining chip” on behalf of 'a company' involved in a dispute over an oil shipment. The group United Against Nuclear Iran (Uani) said it was highly likely the tanker had been seized on May 3 on the direct orders of the regime and was being held after a subsidiary of Turkey's ASB group claimed a shipment of its oil was sold to a third party without its consent. The vessel had previously been shipping crude for ASB, which was hit with US sanctions after being accused of facilitating the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars of oil for the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The ship was intercepted by the IRGC’s naval forces in the Arabian Gulf at dawn on the basis of a court order obtained in Tehran. It had left a dry dock in Dubai bound for Fujairah and was not carrying any cargo. On April 27 the 'Advantage Sweet' was seized in the Gulf of Oman. Both ships are anchored to the south of the port city of Bandar Abbas near a naval base in the Hormozgan province. In November 2020, the 'Niovi' landed a shipment of oil in China but a subsidiary of ASB, Baslam Nakliyat Ve Dis Ticaret, claimed it was the legal owner of the cargo and its lawyer demanded payment. The dispute about who owned the shipment came to the High Court in London, as many contracts in the shipping industry allow for arbitration under English law. The 'Niovi'’s Liberian owner Grand Financing Co took the case to court in a bid to prevent Le Mere Maritime from taking delivery of the oil. The oil was described as Omani crude in court documents but Iran has widely been accused of using Oman for transshipments of oil and relabelling it as has having come from there. The 'Niovi' took on Iranian crude from the 'Oman Pride', which had previously been loaded in Iran.

Seized tankers located off Bandar Abbas

The 'Advantage Sweet' and the 'Niovi' were located just south of Bandar Abbas near a naval base in the port city in Iran’s Hormozgan province on May 6. Iran seized the 'Advantage Sweet', with 23 Indians and one Russian crew member on board, on April 27 as it sailed 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. The tanker carried Kuwaiti crude oil for American energy firm Chevron Corp. of San Ramon at the time of its capture. And its seizure comes as another tanker, the 'Suez Rajan', which was believed to be carrying Iranian crude disappeared from anchorage off Singapore a year after being identified as trying to evade U.S. sanctions. The 'Suez Rajan' was seized by order of American authorities. Report with photos: https://nypost.com/2023/05/07/satellite-photos-reveal-oil-tankers-seized-by-iran-anchored-off-port-city/

EMASoH demands release of tankers

Several countries in the EMASoH operation in the Strait of Hormuz, demanded that Iran immediately release the two tankers 'Advantage Sweet' and 'Niovi', which units from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have seized. The first ship, the 'Advantage Sweet', was boarded by the Revolutionary Guard on April 27, 2023, in the Gulf of Oman, while the 'Niovi' was on its way out of the Strait of Hormuz when it was boarded on May 3. Both ships are now in Iranian waters off Bandar Abbas. EMASoH stated that the hijacking of the two ships took place in international waters and in violation of international law. The hijacking is a threat to safety at sea and the right to free navigation, it said in the declaration. EMASoH requird that the ships, crews and cargoes be released immediately and that the crews are treated well until this happens. Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal participate in EMASoH, which stands for European Maritime Awareness mission in the Strait of Hormuz. Report with photo: https://maritimedanmark.dk/?Id=50414