Illustrative image. (The Mehr News Agency)
Iran has seized a United States-owned shipment of crude oil from a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker that was captured by its forces last year, Iranian media reported on March 6.
The Suezmax crude tanker Advantage Sweet, which was carrying the shipment for the U.S. firm Chevron, was seized by Iranian naval forces last April following an alleged collision with an Iranian boat in the Persian Gulf.
The seizure of the oil shipment, roughly estimated at $50 millions, was carried out based on a Tehran court order in favor of Iranian patients of Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a rare skin disease that causes the skin to become very fragile and blister easily.
The patents had filed a lawsuit against the “severe physical and mental harm” caused by the non-provision of Swedish-made medicine, which is said to be caused by U.S. sanctions according to the lawsuit.
It’s worth noting that a cargo of Iranian oil was unloaded off the coast of Texas from the Suez Rajan, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker seized by the U.S. last August. This same tanker, under the name of St Nikolas, was seized in the Gulf of Oman by Iranian naval forces earlier this year following a court order.
The Persian Gulf and nearby waters witnessed in recent years a series of ship seizures by Iran. U.S. attempts to enforce sanctions on Iran provoked many of these seizures, which were more of a reaction by Tehran.
