Iranian forces board Greek-owned tanker

Written by Nick Blenkey
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Centcom video shows vessel being boarded from Seaking helicopter

U.S. Central Command yesterday tweeted a video showing Iranian forces seizing a tanker identified as the Wila. According to the Equasis data base, the ship is an 8,055 dwt Liberian registered products tanker managed by Piraeus headquartered IMS SA and owned by a company called Bandit Shipping that uses the same Piraeus address as IMS.

Maritime security specialist Dryad Global says it has received information indicating that the vessel was boarded 23 nm NW of the Khor Fakkan Anchorage.

“It is subsequently understood that the vessel was not detained with the vessel believed to have entered UAE TTW around 1720 UTC and currently showing at the Khor Fakkan Anchorage,” says Dryad, which adds that Iranian forces are believed to have potentially attempted to interdict two other vessels in the Persian Gull the Marshal Islands flagged MT Freud and the MT Chemway Arrow.

The Equasis data base indicates that the Freud is Greek owned and controlled while the Chemway Arrow is Japanese owned and controlled.

Read Dryad’s full analysis HERE

UPDATE: The U.S. Justice Department believes that the boarding was an unsuccessful attempt to recover petroleum seized by the U.S. from four other ships (see story)

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