Indonesia seized an Iranian tanker and Panamanian tanker that were suspected of conducting illegal transfer of oil in Indonesia on January 24.
The tankers are belieωed to be the Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian-flagged MT Frea are suspected of a variety of violations, such as not displaying national flags, turning off their identification systems, anchoring illegally, as well as the illegal transfer fuel between ships and spilling oil.
After the ships were seized, authorities escorted the two tankers to Batam island for more investigation.
As for the Iranian tanker, Iranian media acknowledged the tanker’s seizure.
According to Bloomberg, Iran has seen its sales abroad deeply affected by U.S. sanctions after former President Donald Trump withdrew the US from Iran’s nuclear deal in 2018.
In the time since, Iran has depended on black-market sales and deals with Venezuela to keep its sales going.
However, Iran’s state-owned fleet of oil tankers routinely travel turn off their Automatic Identification System trackers to mask where they deliver their cargo.
