DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were reported by maritime security sources to have intercepted the Marshall Islands-flagged oil products tanker, Talara, taking it into Iranian waters, while the vessel’s manager said it had lost contact with the crew.
The tanker was previously sailing off the United Arab Emirates’ coast, maritime sources said on Friday, and was carrying a cargo of high-sulphur gasoil through the Indian Ocean en route to Singapore from Sharjah in the UAE.
“Contact was lost at around 0822 local time (0422 UTC) on Friday … approximately 20 nautical miles off the coast of Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates,” the vessel’s manager Columbia Shipmanagement said in a statement, adding that it was working closely with relevant parties – including maritime security agencies and the vessel’s owner – to restore contact.
Columbia Shipmanagement did not provide further details.
The ship is owned by Cyprus-based Pasha Finance.
British Royal Navy agency UKMTO said the incident “is believed to be state activity; the vessel is transiting towards
Iranian territorial waters”.
The tanker was intercepted by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) at sea and redirected towards the Iranian coast, British maritime risk management group Vanguard and maritime security sources said.
The UAE and Iranian foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Iran’s IRGC has periodically seized commercial vessels in Gulf waters in recent years, often citing maritime violations such as alleged smuggling, technical infractions or legal disputes.
The vessel last reported its position at around 0810 UTC and was sailing close to the Iranian coast, MarineTraffic ship tracking data showed on Friday.
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul in London, Jana Choukeir, Nayera Abdallah, Parisa Hafezi, Yousef Saba and Tala Ramadan in Dubai and Renee Maltezou in Athens; Editing by Jan Harvey, Elaine Hardcastle)
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