And still. An invisible thread links the recent Revolutionary Guard raid on two oil tankers off the coast. Iranwith the September 11 attack on the Twin Towers and the 1983 bombing of US Marines in Beirut.

The first of the tankers, named Advantage Sweet, was captured by Tehran’s special forces on April 27, 2023 while sailing in the Gulf of Oman. It was loaded with oil and chartered by the American energy market giant. The second tanker is called Niovi. It is unloaded and was captured by the Revolutionary Guards on May 3, 2023 while traveling to the port of Fujairah in the Emirates. Today, both ships have been taken hostage and are anchored off the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

The two cases are not related—at least not directly—to each other. But they prove that Tehran has used extremely aggressive tactics to protect itself, at least as it sees its interests in the Iranian oil trade.

To understand what happened between April 27 and May 3, a third large tanker, the Suez Rajan, must be added to the equation. Despite the US embargo, the ship is reportedly carrying millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil to the US. It is a vessel representing Greek interests, like the Niovi, with the Greek authorities explaining that “since the ships sail under a foreign flag, we do not take an active part in the management of affairs.”

In the background, however, the two cases are being tracked by the National Intelligence Service (EYP), while sources in the shipping market say the Ministry of Shipping has issued a written warning to Greek shipping companies about the risk of tankers. interests pursued by Tehran.

But let’s look at each case separately. In late April, Tehran said it seized the Advantage Sweet after it collided with an Iranian fishing boat in the Gulf of Oman. However, a number of international press reports give a completely different version of events, linking the attack of the Revolutionary Guards on the tanker with the case of the Greek interests of Suez Rajan.

In February 2022, the Suez Rajan was seen unloading Iranian oil from another tanker off the coast of China in violation of the US embargo on Iranian oil exports. The American organization United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which includes former diplomats and intelligence officers of the United States and Israel, came out with the exposure. UANI has an app that allows satellite tracking of tankers suspected of carrying Iranian oil.

Once the Suez Rajan vessels were located, court orders in New York and Los Angeles were set in motion to compensate the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on Manhattan by al-Qaeda and the October 23, 1983 attack on US Marines in Virito. . The first attack was attributed to al-Qaeda and the previous one to Hezbollah, with the US believing both attacks were supported by Iran.

Although the Greek authorities say they are not involved, in the background EYP is monitoring the cases of Greek-owned Niovi and Suez Rajan.

The court rulings provide that money from the sale of Iranian oil seized by the US around the world will be used to compensate the families of the victims, according to figures cited by shipping specialist website Trade Winds. At least some of them. After the case went public in February 2022 and the US hunted the tanker to confiscate its cargo, management companies based abroad and the Greek owner Suez Rajan were forced to publicly state that they were cooperating with the authorities. , and that they are thoroughly investigating allegations of Iranian oil supplies.

The tanker was anchored in Singapore for almost a year, and only in March of this year did it sail to the west. Recently, the Financial Times, citing three different sources of information, said in its report that the US authorities proceeded to seize Suez Rajan, forcing him to pump Iranian oil from his tanks to the US.

The obligations of Advantage Sweet, which transports crude oil on behalf of the American giant, are interpreted by Tehran as an act of retaliation.

For a week he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the coast of the United States.

The Revolutionary Guards’ attack on Advantage Sweet, which transports millions of barrels of crude oil in its tankers on behalf of the American energy giant, is being interpreted by Tehran as an act of revenge. UANI spokesperson Claire Jungman, contacted “K”declined to comment on the Suez Rajan-Advantage Sweet case.

On the contrary, he cited information and intercepted emails that were posted on the Iran Wiki website (www.wikiiran.org), which showed that the second case, the hijacking of the Greek ship Niovi, was again a complex legal dispute.

It involves two companies, the first of which is located in Oman, and the second in Turkey, which have consistently been on the US sanctions list. “We suspect that the case is related to a financial dispute over payment for a shipment of Iranian oil in 2020,” the report said. – says the representative of UANI “K”.

What exactly happened in the case of Niovi? In November 2020, an oil tanker of Greek interests loaded 2 million barrels of crude oil into its tanks. According to UANI, the fuel was of Iranian origin and was loaded onto Niovi by another tanker representing Iranian interests. The cargo belonged to an Omani company and was delivered to the port of Yantai, China. But before the oil was unloaded, the company that received the cargo allegedly sold it to another company based in Turkey. A development that has caused, in addition to the expected reaction of the Turkish company, serious legal friction.

“We have learned that cargo on the Niovi tanker was sold and offloaded in China on November 7 and 14, 2020, based on false documents issued by the shipowner,” the intercepted email reads. The sender of the message is the legal representative of the Turkish company and the recipient company in China.

Tehran has suffered financially due to legal issues related to the 2020 Iranian Niovi oil case and seized the vessel on May 3, 2023 to claim money it believes it is owed. “It’s leverage. It’s like they’re saying, “Pay us to leave,” commented Claire Jungman of United Against Nuclear Iran.

Communication between Greek Captain Niovi and his family was restored within a week. He announced his health.