U.S.–Iran naval incident

Iran has released the oil cargo of a Greek-owned, Marshall-Islands-flagged tanker it seized in the Gulf of Oman earlier this year, a shipping source said Thursday.

A correspondent on-site in Iran visited the Greek-owned oil tanker St Nikolas, confirming the crew's safety, after the vessel was seized on Thursday by the Iranian navy, as was announced by its managing company, Greek-based Empire Navigations on Monday.  

Empire Navigation Inc, the Greek shipowner of an oil tanker seized by Iran, said it sought any help from the US government in regaining control of its vessel in a US court filing on Thursday.

Iran said on Thursday it had a court order to seize a tanker in Gulf waters a day earlier after it collided with an Iranian vessel, one of two tankers the US Navy said it prevented Iran from commandeering.

The US Navy said it had intervened to prevent Iran from seizing two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday in the latest in a series of seizures or attacks on ships in the area since 2019.

Chevron said one incident involved the Richmond Voyager, a very large crude carrier managed by the US oil major, and that crew onboard were safe.

The incident occurred in Iran

Iranian naval forces appear to have deliberately halted their provocations of U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf in recent months, a U.S. military official said March 15.