In the recent development, where two tankers were seized by the Indonesian coast a few days back, Iran’s oil ministry has issued a statement where it has said that the oil tanker has no relation with Iran as the owner of the tanker MT Arman 114 was unidentifiable. Moreover it has targeted the concerned authorities and the western world of defaming and creating a negative impact on Iran’s image.
The tanker MT Arman was suspected of illegal transshipment and supply of crude oil through the waters, Along with this the other one is Cameroon flagged MT S Tinos. Both the tankers fall under the category of VLCC(Very large crude carriers). The tanker was carrying crude oil worth $304 million, according to coast guard officials the Automatic Identification System(AIS) was showing different location, it suspects that transceivers were not according to coordinates of the system.
Briefing Media the agency’s chief Aan Kurnia said such activities cannot be tolerated in their waters, they will act accordingly, the tankers even were in the Malaysian waters therefore Indonesian have taken their help as well. In 2021 there was such an event where Iranian and Panamanian vessels were under the same scrutiny.
USA IRAN CONNECTION
Well the rivalry between the two giants is well known to the world but after a few days of the incident Iran has warned any of the countries to unload any amount of oil from their tanker which is in anchored in Houston, USA in may confiscated an oil tanker carrying Iranian Oil in the operation of sanctions staged against them with due the Biden administration has deployed more units of F-16s and F-35s in the wake of the events. According to the reports Iranian Naval has seized around 3 tankers in the water and acting robustly in the area of Hormuz. Moreover, the USA has accused Iran of harassing two tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
“US Central Command is committed to defending freedom of navigation within our area of responsibility which includes some of the most important waterways in the world”
CENTCOM Commander, US Army Gen. Michael Kurilla said in a statement.
Despite using the old tankers it possesses an immense threat to Maritime environment security as oil spill is very common, one thing to note is both the tankers are quite old and must be scrapped in order.
Moreover countries like UAE has shown dismay towards the action against the harassing of tankers as in previous months Iran seized a Panama flagged tanker travelling across Emirati port of Dubai to Fujairah port.
On July 5 the US Navy said it prevented Iran from seizing tankers in the Gulf of Oman. There were two tankers, responding to the latest wake of such an incident.
LOSING BID TO HOST
Iran has subsequently lost the bid to host the grand maritime event which was in October as the US led a proposal against it. This raises the tensions between the two giants in the UN shipping agency Council’s meeting.
Tanker Wars are not new for the world. It got a huge attraction during the Iraq and Iran War which endangered Operation Earnest Will by the US to have a check on the tankers going, It led to a huge financial crisis not only in the Middle East moreover in the whole world.
USA submitted a paper to the IMO Council citing multiple events where Iran tried to harass the tankers especially the report of Richmond Voyager Tanker where it was hit by live fire claimed in the report. There are 40 countries in the IMO Council mostly favoring the proposal.
