Iran’s navy seizes Greek-owned oil tanker in Gulf of Oman

[MarineTraffic.com]

Iran's navy seized St Nikolas, the oil tanker associated with the Greek shipping company Empire Navigation, on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, Iranian media reported.  The oil tanker was once at the center of a major crisis between Tehran and Washington, officials said, a seizure that further escalated tensions in the Mideast waterways.

The vessel was once known as the Suez Rajan and had been involved in a yearlong dispute that ultimately saw the U.S. Justice Department seize 1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil on it.

The seizure also comes after weeks of attacks by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea, including their largest barrage ever of drones and missiles launched late Tuesday. That has raised the risk of possible retaliatory strikes by U.S.-led forces now patrolling the vital waterway, especially after a United Nations Security...

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