TEXAS: An American-owned oil tanker long suspected of carrying sanctioned Iranian crude oil started offloading its cargo near Texas late Saturday, even as Tehran has threatened to hit shipping in the Arabian Gulf over it.
The future of the oil aboard the Suez Rajan has become mired in the deep tensions between the United States and Iran, even as both countries are working toward a trade of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets in South Korea for the release of 5 Iranian-Americans held in Tehran.
Already, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has warned that those involved in offloading the oil should expect to be hit back. The US Navy has increased its presence continously in recent weeks in the Middle East, deploying the troop-and-aircraft-carrying USS Bataan and planning putting armed personnel on commercial vehicles traveling through the Strait of Hormuz to stop Tehran from seizing additional ships.
Ship-tracking data revealed the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker was undergoing a ship-to-ship transfer of its cargo to another tanker, the Mr. Euphrates, near Galveston, Texas, about seventy kilometers of Houston. That could allow the oil to be offloaded, according to US media.
The saga over the oil tanker started in February last year, when the group United Against Nuclear Iran (USNI) said it suspected the tanker carried oil from the Khargh Island in Iran, its main oil distribution terminal in the Arabian Gulf.
For months, the tanker sat in the South China Sea near Singapore before suddenly starting its journey towards Gulf of Mexico without giving any explanation.
Experts believe the tanker’s cargo likely had been seized by US officials, though there still were no public court documents on early Sunday on the matter.
Iran seizes two oil tankers
Meanwhile, Iran has seized 2 tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, including one with cargo for American oil major Chevron Corp. In July, the Revolutionary Guard’s naval arm top commander threatened further action against anyone offloading the tanker, with state media linking the recent seizures to the oil’s fate.
