Iranian Official Talks About the Fate of the Tanker Detained by Tehran Last Month

Data from Refinitiv tracking services showed on Wednesday that a Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker, which U.S. officials said Iran had detained last month, has left Iran and entered the Gulf of Oman. An Iranian official in Bandar Abbas told Reuters that the tanker left Iran late on Tuesday "after unloading its oil cargo," without providing any details about the crew. Refinitiv ship tracking data revealed that the vessel was near Bandar Abbas on Tuesday but was recorded as docking early Wednesday off the coasts of Oman and the UAE in the Gulf of Oman. No destination for the vessel was registered. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said a week ago that it had thwarted a U.S. attempt to seize a tanker carrying Iranian oil in the Gulf of Oman. The United States denied this, stating that Iranian forces had detained a Vietnamese-flagged tanker in late October. There was no comment available from the foreign ministries of Iran and Vietnam.