Iran Seizes Tanker at Center of Dispute with U.S.

In the early morning hours (GMT+4) of Jan. 11, Iranian forces boarded and seized a tanker operating in the Gulf of Oman. The tanker, named by Iranian reports as the Suez Rajan, is at the center of a dispute between the U.S. and Iran. U.S. authorities had seized that same tanker, then named the St. Nicolas, last September off the coast of Texas and confiscated its cargo of nearly 1 million barrels of crude oil. The then-Greek operator of the ship pleaded guilty to smuggling sanctioned Iranian oil in September and paid a $2.4 million fine, reported Politico.