Iran har kapret en oljetanker, trolig fra Emiratene

Den øverste leder, Ali Khamenei, hilser andre skriftlærde i Teheran 16. juli. Foto: Reuters/Scanpix

Irans Revolusjonsgarde har kapret en utenlandsk oljetanker, opplyser Revolusjonsgarden selv. Den sier den tok arrest i en tanker med én million fat nær øya Larak i Persiabukta søndag.

Trolig er dette tankskipet Rafiah tilhørende Emiratene som forsvant sist helg.

Oljeprisen reagerte øyeblikkelig.

The guards’ Navy said they seized a vessel carrying 1 million liters of smuggled fuel near the island of Larak in the Persian Gulf on Sunday, Iran’s state news agency IRNA said.

Oil prices reacted sharply, with Brent crude up 1% at $64.27 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate futures up 0.8% at $57.22 a barrel.

Det er Wall Street Journal som har storyen.

The announcement came after days of speculation that an Emirati tanker had been captured by Iran after vanishing from radars.

Over the weekend, the vessel, called the Riah, stopped transmitting radio signals as it entered Iranian waters and headed in the direction of Larak Island, just south of the location of Sunday’s capture, according to shipping tracker FleetMon.

Iran sender ut flere versjoner: En av dem går ut på at tankeren brøt sanksjoner og at Revolusjonsgarden straffet eieren. Et annet at skipet sendte ut nødsignaler.

Det er et hav av forskjell på en oppbringing og hjelp i nøden.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Iran had rescued the Riah after the vessel encountered technical difficulties and sought help while in Iranian waters on Sunday. It was unclear whether the rescued tanker was the same one Iran said Thursday it had seized.

Amerikanerne bemerker at det ikke er første gang Iran bruker SOS-signal som påskudd til kapring.

“This would not be the first time that Iran attacked a boat and then tried to rescue the crew,” said Brian Hook, the U.S. State Department’s Iran envoy.

“It looks fishy because the Iranians responded to a distress call that nobody else heard,” said Bahrain’s foreign minister, Khalid bin Ahmed al Khalifa, at a think tank discussion in Washington on Wednesday.

Det vil trolig ikke ta lang tid før den riktige versjonen er etablert. Et opplagt spørsmål er: Hva sier mannskapet?

Iran Seizes Foreign Tanker It Accuses of Smuggling Fuel