Iran demands answers from Indonesia over seized oil tanker
Indonesia seized an Iranian fuel tanker on Sunday, accusing the vessel of failing to respond to radio calls and disabling its identification system.
Iran is demanding an explanation from Indonesia a day after the Southeast Asian country seized an Iranian tanker off its coast suspected of carrying illegal oil shipments.
On Sunday, Indonesia’s coast guard seized the Iran-flagged MT Horse and the Panama-flagged MT Freya, near the Indonesian part of Borneo. The Indonesian Maritime Security Agency said the vessels violated a number of maritime protocols, leading to their seizure.
“The tankers, first detected at 5:30 a.m. local time, concealed their identity by not showing their national flags, disabling tracking systems and did not respond to a radio call,” the agency said in a statement on Sunday.
But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Tehran was under the impression that a “technical issue” led to the vessels’ seizure. Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization and the Iranian Embassy in Jakarta are seeking clarification from their Indonesian counterparts, he added.
