TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have confiscated the American cargo of an oil tanker seized last year after US-led sanctions prevented the entry of medication into the Islamic republic, the judiciary said Wednesday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged Advantage Sweet was seized in April 2023 while sailing in the Gulf of Oman, a key route for the oil industry.
The vessel, chartered by Chevron Corp, had picked up oil from Kuwait and was bound for Texas before it was seized, an Advantage Tankers spokesperson said at the time.
The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online website on Wednesday said a Tehran court “ordered the seizure of the American oil cargo on Advantage Sweet,” with the cargo’s value said to be worth more than $50 million.
It was not immediately clear when the court order was issued.
It said the oil seizure was in retaliation for “the sanctions of Western countries, especially the United States which led to the prevention of the sale of drugs needed for epidermolysis bullosa patients.”
Iran has been under crippling US sanctions since Washington’s 2018 withdrawal from a landmark nuclear deal.
In a 2021 report, United Nations experts cautioned that “over-compliance” with the sanctions had affected people suffering “from a severe and life threatening rare skin condition, epidermolysis bullosa, which causes extremely painful wounds.”
The report came following the halt of shipments to Iran by a Swedish bandage company which reportedly offered the most effective treatment for the disease, according to the UN.
The Gulf of Oman has witnessed a series of hijackings and attacks over the years, often involving Iran.
In January, the US military said Iran was “holding five ships and over 90 crew members hostage from vessels seized nearly a year ago.”
Iran seizes US cargo on oil tanker over sanctions: judiciary
https://arab.news/nyzmu
Iran seizes US cargo on oil tanker over sanctions: judiciary
- Cargo’s value said to be worth more than $50 million
Armed clashes erupt in Aleppo between Syrian army and Kurdish-led SDF
- Two civilians were killed and eight others, including two children, were injured
- Defense Ministry accused SDF of targeting homes after they suddenly withdrew from jointly operated checkpoints, fired at government forces
LONDON: The Syrian Ministry of Defense accused the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces of launching a surprise attack on the Internal Security Forces and the Syrian Arab Army in Aleppo on Monday.
The clashes erupted in the densely populated neighborhoods of Ashrafiya and Sheikh Maqsoud, which have a Kurdish majority.
The Ministry of Health announced that two civilians were killed and eight others, including two children, were injured. It condemned the attack on a residential area near Al-Razi Hospital by SDF forces.
Syrian authorities also reported that one member of the Internal Security Forces and another from the army were injured, along with several civil defense personnel.
The Ministry of Defense denied the claims that the army initiated the conflict. It accused the SDF of targeting homes after they suddenly withdrew from jointly operated checkpoints and fired at government forces with heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade shells, and mortars.
Injured civilians were admitted to Al-Razi Hospital in the city, and two Syrian Civil Defense personnel were injured while on duty at the Shihan roundabout, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
Fighting has spread to the Syriac Quarter, Sheikh Taha and Al-Jamiliya neighborhoods and to areas between the Shihan and Al-Larmon roundabouts, north of Aleppo, prompting dozens of families to flee their homes toward safer locations in Khalidiya and Nile Street, and closing the main Gaziantep-Aleppo highway. The civil defense accused SDF forces of shooting at one of their vehicles, which carried four members.
Azzam Al-Gharib, the governor of Aleppo, urged citizens to avoid approaching the clash sites or roads leading to the city center until further notice.
