US Forces Seize Three Iranian Oil Tankers

Darwin, 23 April: One day after extending the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has seized three Iranian-flagged oil tankers.

According to international maritime authorities and U.S. defense officials, the seized vessels are named Deep Sea, Sevin, and Dorena. All three tankers were carrying significant amounts of crude oil.

The exact location of the seizure has not been disclosed by the U.S. Department of Defense. However, ship-tracking organization MarineTraffic reported that the vessels were intercepted somewhere in the Indian Ocean, near maritime regions close to India, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka.

The Deep Sea, an Iranian supertanker, was partially loaded at the time of seizure and was last spotted off the coast of Malaysia last week.

The second tanker, Sevin, was carrying about 1 million barrels of oil, approximately 65% of its total capacity. It had last been seen near Malaysia about a month ago.

The third tanker, Dorena, was fully loaded with around 2 million barrels of crude oil and had been spotted just three days earlier near the Indian coast in the Indian Ocean.

Earlier, on April 12, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a blockade on Iranian ports after failed talks between U.S. and Iranian representatives in Islamabad on April 11. He stated that until a peace agreement is reached, no Iranian ships would be allowed to leave ports, and no foreign vessels would be permitted to enter Iran.

CENTCOM also said that since the blockade announcement, U.S. forces have turned back 29 ships attempting to depart from Iranian ports.

Source: Reuters