The US armed forces conducted an operation to intercept the sanctioned oil tanker “Davina“, sailing without a state registration, overnight in the Indian Ocean, their Indo-Pacific Command reported today, quoted by Reuters, writes BTA.
Washington has imposed a blockade of Iran's maritime trade, and Tehran has been shelling ships to prevent them from passing through the Strait of Hormuz - the waterway to the Persian Gulf.
The US armed forces have intercepted numerous cargo vessels and oil tankers in the Indian Ocean in recent months.
“We will continue operations to global maritime law enforcement to detect and disrupt illicit networks and intercept vessels that provide material support to Iran wherever they operate,“ wrote the Indo-Pacific Command in a publication in Ex.
The United States imposed sanctions on the “Davina“, a supertanker with a capacity of up to two million barrels of crude oil, in October 2024 for trading Iranian oil.
The ship, also known as the “Lenore“, was last seen on June 5 off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, according to ship tracking data from the “MarineTraffic“ platform today. The depth to which the ship was submerged indicates that it is almost entirely loaded with oil.