Seized Marshall Islands-flagged Tanker Located Off Iranian Coast

CAIRO — The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker seized by Iran in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday has been located east of Iran's Qeshm Island, monitoring service TankerTrackers.com said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. 


Iran seized the St. Nikolas, loaded with Iraqi crude destined for Turkey, in retaliation for the confiscation last year of the same vessel and its Iranian oil cargo by the United States, Iranian state media reported. 


"The Greek-owned, U.K.-insured and Marshall Islands-flagged Suezmax tanker ST NIKOLAS ... laden with 1 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil, has been located today east of Qeshm Island, Iran ... AIS [ship tracking] is offline," TankerTrackers said in its post Saturday. 


The U.S. had seized the ship in a sanctions enforcement operation when it sailed under the name Suez Rajan, with Iran warning that the move would "not go unanswered." 


The semi-official Fars news agency Thursday cited a navy statement saying that the St. Nikolas tanker was en route to Iranian ports. 


The seizure of the St. Nikolas coincides with weeks of attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militias targeting Red Sea shipping routes.