Armed men enter an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman outside

Armed men stormed an oil tanker that was sailing in the Gulf of Oman, about 100 kilometers off the coast of Oman. The four or five masked intruders were wearing military uniform, according to reports from UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) shipping controllers.

Communication with the ship St. Nicholas was lost. The tanker flies the flag of the Marshall Islands and was on its way from Basra (Iraq) to western Turkey, loaded with Iraqi oil. The ship will now sail towards the Iranian coast, possibly to the port of Bandar Jask. The ship thieves may have been from Iran. The crew of the St. Nicholas consisted of one Greek and eighteen Filipinos.

According to shipping observers, the ship was previously called “Swiss Rajan” and under that name was involved in a conflict between Iran and the United States last year. The Americans raised it because it would transport Iranian oil from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to China. This would violate US sanctions against Iran and the Revolutionary Guard.

Some observers describe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a state within a state. With many structures, they not only constitute the elite forces of the Islamic Republic, but are also active in the economic sphere and enjoy great influence.

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