Oil tanker released by the Islamic Republic anchors in Oman

On Monday, July 16, Reuters reported, citing tracking data from the company 'LSEG', that the ship 'Advantage Sweet', which had been seized by the Islamic Republic over a year ago, has docked near the port of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates. The news of the release of this chartered oil tanker belonging to the American multinational oil and gas company 'Chevron', flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, was first published on Thursday. One day after this news, Reuters reported that the ship was heading towards the port of Sohar in Oman, based on tracking data from 'LSEG'. A spokesperson for 'Chevron' told Reuters on Saturday that the company is aware of the release of 'Advantage Sweet' and expressed happiness but did not provide further details. The Iranian government had seized the ship in the spring of last year under the pretext of a confrontation between 'Advantage Sweet' and an Iranian boat in the Sea of Oman. In its report on Thursday, Reuters linked the release of this oil tanker to a court hearing regarding a lawsuit from 'butterfly patients' and quoted Iranian state media stating that this court on Thursday, July 21, condemned the U.S. government and officials to pay $6.8 billion due to sanctions and what it called damages inflicted on 'a group of survivors and also butterfly patients'; a compensation that Iranian officials claimed would be partially covered by $50 million from the crude oil discharge from the 'Advantage Sweet'. This claim by Iranian officials comes at a time when, in recent years, the Iranian government's destructive actions and its proxy groups against commercial ships have led to increased instability and insecurity in the region's waters, prompting growing convergence between the U.S. and its European and Middle Eastern allies to counter these actions and ensure the security of international shipping. While domestic media reported on March 7, 2023, the first news of the holding of an international legal court in Tehran and the ruling to seize an American oil shipment in favor of butterfly patients, Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, emphasized at that time that U.S. sanctions against Iran have never included medicine and currently do not. Mr. Miller called for the immediate release of the 'Advantage Sweet' by the Iranian government and stated that the drug sanctions have never been the policy of the Biden administration. The spokesperson for the U.S. diplomatic apparatus clarified that since the imposition and enforcement of sanctions by various U.S. administrations, the export of medicine to Iran has never been sanctioned. The Houthis, supported by the Iranian government, are suspected of attacking another ship in the Gulf of Aden. CENTCOM: The oil tanker targeted by the Houthis was last docked in Russia and was heading to China. Reuters: Russian oil has been loaded onto tankers under sanctions related to the Islamic Republic. The U.S. request from Panama: Completely prevent the 'expedient' use of Iranian ships under their flag. CENTCOM commander: The Islamic Republic has turned the Middle East into a 'center of crises'. A fire on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden has been extinguished.