Iran warns against unloading Iranian oil from seized tanker

Iran would retaliate against any oil company unloading Iranian oil from a seized tanker, a senior Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Navy said on Thursday, amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington, Reuters reports.

In April, the US confiscated Iranian oil on a tanker at sea in a sanctions enforcement operation, three sources told Reuters. The tanker was anchored outside the port of Houston, according to ship tracking data on Thursday.

State media cited the Guards’ Navy Commander, Alireza Tangsiri, as saying that Tehran would hold Washington responsible for allowing the unloading of the tanker’s content, without giving further details.

Sources familiar with the matter, which declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, had said Washington took control of the oil cargo aboard the Marshall Islands tanker, “Suez Rajan” after securing an earlier court order.

On Monday, the US announced it would send additional F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, along with a warship to the Middle East, in a bid to monitor key waterways in the region, following Iran’s seizure and harassment of commercial shipping vessels in recent months.

A maritime security firm said Iran had seized a tanker, days later, in relation after the incident in April.

READ: Iran accuses US Navy of defending fuel smuggling in Gulf incident