Armed men boarded a Hong Kong flagged vessel, about 50nm northeast of Fujairah and 47nm northwest of Iranian Port of Bandar, following months of relieved tensions in the area. Reports say they took the ship into Iranian waters.
According to data by security firm Dryad Global, the product tanker SC TAIPEI, with a crew of 22, is highly likely to be the vessel of concern.
The vessel was understood to be at anchor in an in-ballast condition and awaiting orders to approach al-Jubail in Saudi Arabia.
At 12:48UTC the vessel was shown to be underway towards the Iranian coastline. At 14:28UTC the vessel was shown to be stationary at a position 4nm off Mogh-e Qanbareh-ye Kuh Mobarak.
There are no further details on the incident. It is even unclear whether the vessel is in distress or is being assisted by Iran in some way.
However, Dryad Global noted that its current location does not correspond with any known commercial activity in the region.
As explained, the fact that SC TAIPEI is a Hong Kong-flagged vessel could make China view the potential detention as a proxy assault on its own sovereignty.
At a time when China still buys Iranian oil, and Iran has few international friends, such a move would be highly irregular, and would not further Iran’s interests.
If the SC TAIPEI is verified as having been detained by elements of the Iranian military, then it may be the first move in an Iranian response to recent pressures caused by COVID-19, US-imposed sanctions and a collapsing oil price.
The resumption of vessel detentions sends a signal to the US that Iran still continues to object to sanctions, as well as signalling to Saudi Arabia, a key ally of the US in the region, that Iran is willing to take action to address the global oversupply of the oil market and will not sit idly by.
Last year, Iran was at the forefront of numerous tanker captures as part of an international diplomatic crisis at the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping route for world’s oil supply.
