Iran seizes tanker carrying 'smuggled' fuel in the Gulf, state media says

Iran seizes tanker carrying 'smuggled' fuel in the Gulf, state media says

Iran has seized another foreign tanker in the Gulf, a state media agency has said.

The vessel, carrying 700,000 litres of "smuggled fuel" bound for Arab states, was intercepted near Farsi Island in the Gulf, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said.

Lebanon's al-Mayadeen TV station reported that it was taken on Wednesday.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Ramezan Zirahi, quoted by state television, said: "The IRGC's naval forces have seized a foreign oil tanker in the Persian Gulf that was smuggling fuel for some Arab countries."

Seven sailors of different nationalities were detained, he said.

"The seizure of the oil tanker was in coordination with Iran's judiciary authorities and based on their order," Fars quoted him as saying.

The reported seizure comes at a time of high tensions in the region, as Tehran struggles to cope with harsh economic sanctions imposed by the US.

The sanctions, which have severely restricted Iran's oil exports, were reimposed after Washington's unilateral withdrawal from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

That, in turn, prompted Tehran to announce it was relaxing its efforts to comply with the deal.

UK vessels have become involved in the tit-for-tat conflict, after British Royal Marines captured the Iranian oil tanker, Grace 1, near Gibraltar on 4 July.

They said they suspected the ship was taking oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions, but Iran called it an act of "piracy".

The Iranian coastguard detained the Panama-flagged tanker MT Riah on 13 July, accusing it, as with the latest seizure, of smuggling fuel.

Less than a week later, Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the British-flagged Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz.

They accused the Swedish-owned oil tanker of allegedly violating international laws.

On Thursday, the UK's new foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, rejected the chance to swap the tankers.

The US has blamed Iran for two separate attacks using explosives which damaged oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman in May and June - an allegation Tehran has denied. </s> Iran seizes third foreign ship in less than a month

Iranian Revolutionary Guards seized a foreign oil tanker in the Gulf that was smuggling fuel and detained seven crewmen, Iran’s state media reported on Sunday, in a show of power amid heightened tension with the West.

The vessel was intercepted near Iran’s Farsi Island in the Gulf, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said.

The elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has a navy base on Farsi island which is located north of the Strait of Hormuz.

Fars and Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV station reported that the tanker was seized on Wednesday.

“The IRGC’s naval forces have seized a foreign oil tanker in the Persian Gulf that was smuggling fuel for some Arab countries,” state television quoted the Guards commander Ramezan Zirahi as saying.

It was carrying 700,000 litres of fuel, he said, without elaborating on the nationalities of the detained crewmen and on which country or company owned the ship.

“The seizure of the oil tanker was in coordination with Iran’s judiciary authorities and based on their order,” Fars quoted him as he as saying. “It was taken to the Bushehr port, where its fuel was handed over to the authorities.”

Iran, which has some of the worlds cheapest fuel prices due to heavy state subsidies and the fall of its currency, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling by land to neighbouring countries and by sea to Gulf Arab states.

A spokesman for the US Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said they had no information to confirm the media reports.

Another oil tanker, the Panama-flagged MT Riah, was captured by the elite force last month for “smuggling fuel to other countries”.

Tensions have risen between Iran and the West since last year when the United States pulled out of an international agreement which curbed the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in return for an easing of economic sanctions on Iran.

Fuelling fears of a Middle East war with global repercussions, the Guards seized British tanker Stena Impero near the Strait of Hormuz in July for alleged marine violations, two weeks after British forces captured an Iranian oil tanker near Gibraltar accused of violating sanctions on Syria.

Describing the seizure of the Stena Impero in the Strait as illegal, Britain has rejected the idea that it could release the Iranian tanker in exchange for the British-flagged vessel.

Angered by intensified US sanctions designed to strangle its vital oil trade and the failure of Britain and European parties to the agreement to salvage the pact, Tehran has decreased its commitments to the nuclear deal.

Iran also has threatened to block all exports through the Strait, if countries heed US calls to stop buying Iranian oil. A fifth of global oil consumption passes through the Strait from Middle East crude producers to major markets.

After several attacks in May and June on oil tankers — blamed by Washington on Tehran, which denied responsibility — Trump has been trying to forge a military coalition to secure Gulf waters, though European allies have been loath to join for fear of provoking open conflict.

European parties to the deal — Britain, France and Germany — have instead appealed for diplomatic moves to defuse the crisis and have been trying to salvage the pact by exploring ways to shield Iran’s economy from US sanctions.

Tehran has called on them to accelerate their efforts or it will further decrease its commitments to the agreement.

Britain said on July 25 it had started sending a warship to accompany all British-flagged vessels through the Strait.

Iran has repeatedly said it will not allow any disturbance in shipping in the key oil transport waterway, claiming responsibility for the security of the Strait. In an apparent bid to calm tensions in the Gulf, Iran has called for improving relations with its regional rivals Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Last month, Iran and the UAE revived maritime security talks in Tehran that had been off since 2013.

Iranian media reported on Sunday that Iranian and Qatari coast guards will meet to “improve maritime and border cooperation”. </s> In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a meeting during his provincial tour to the North Khorasan, Iran, Sunday, July 14, 2019. Rouhani said his country is ready to negotiate with the United States if Washington lifts its economic sanctions. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces seized a foreign oil tanker accused of smuggling oil, Iran’s state TV reported Thursday. The vessel appears to be a United Arab Emirates-based tanker that had disappeared off trackers in Iranian territorial waters over the weekend.

The seizure was the latest in a series of dramatic developments as tensions mount between the United States and Iran over the unravelling nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

The Panamanian-flagged oil tanker MT Riah stopped transmitting its location early Sunday near Qeshm Island, which has a Revolutionary Guard base on it, according to data listed on tracking site Maritime Traffic.

Iran’s state television did not identify the seized vessel or nationalities of the crew, but said it was intercepted on Sunday. It said the oil tanker had 12 foreign crew members on board and was involved in smuggling some 1 million liters (264,000 gallons) of fuel from Iranian smugglers to foreign customers.

The report said the oil tanker was intercepted south of Iran’s Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Larak is a smaller island just southeast of the larger Qeshm Island.

Crude prices, which had been falling since last week, ticked higher almost immediately after reports of the incident.

The seizure of the ship does not immediately appear to directly target any one particular country and shows the Revolutionary Guard cracking down on illegal smuggling of Iranian oil.

If the MT Riah was indeed the ship seized, the move directly singles out UAE-bound and based vessels. The 58-meter (190-foot) Riah typically made trips from Dubai and Sharjah on the UAE’s west coast before going through the strait and heading to Fujairah on the UAE’s east coast.

The UAE has been calling for a de-escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Iran in past weeks, but has also lobbied for tougher U.S. policies on Iran and supports the maximum pressure campaign of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration since the U.S. unilaterally pulled out of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

The ship’s seizure comes after a tense, but brief standoff last week between the British navy and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude oil passes. The British government said a navy frigate had to warn away the paramilitary vessels from disrupting the passage of a British oil tanker through the strait.

It also comes after British marines helped seize an Iranian supertanker off Gibraltar, a British overseas territory at the southern tip of Spain. Britain has since said it would facilitate the release of the tanker if Iran can provide guarantees the vessel would not breach European Union sanctions on shipments to Syria.

Iran has recently increased uranium production and enrichment over the limits of its 2015 nuclear deal, trying to put more pressure on Europe to offer it better terms and allow it to sell its crude oil abroad.

The U.S. has sent thousands of additional troops, B-52 bombers and advanced fighter jets to the region amid the heightened tensions. Iran also shot down a U.S. surveillance drone, raising fears of a wider conflict.

In May, two Emirati oil tankers were among four tankers attacked in acts of sabotage that the U.S. has blamed on Iran. The UAE has stopped short of blaming any country for the attacks off its coast of Fujairah and maintains that diplomacy is the way forward.

Last month saw two other attacks on oil vessels. Iran denies involvement in any of the vessel attacks.

A U.S. defense official had told The Associated Press earlier this week that America had suspicions that Iran had seized the MT Riah when its tracker was turned off in the Strait of Hormuz. An Emirati official had told the AP the small oil tanker made no distress call before switching off its tracker.

Iran’s acknowledgement that a vessel has been seized by the Revolutionary Guard appears to contradict statements by Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman on Wednesday saying Iran had aided a foreign oil tanker with a malfunction.

The ship’s registered owner, Dubai-based Prime Tankers LLC, told the AP earlier this week it had sold the ship to another company called Mouj Al-Bahar. A man who answered a telephone number registered to the firm told the AP it didn’t own any ships.

Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell contributed to this report from Dubai. </s> In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a meeting during his provincial tour to the North Khorasan, Iran, Sunday, July 14, 2019. Rouhani said his country is ready to negotiate with the United States if Washington lifts its economic sanctions. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran said Thursday its Revolutionary Guard seized a foreign oil tanker and its crew of 12 for smuggling fuel out of the country, and hours later released video showing the vessel to be a United Arab Emirates-based ship that had vanished in Iranian waters over the weekend.

The announcement solved one mystery — the fate of the missing ship — but raised a host of other questions and heightened worries about the free flow of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical petroleum shipping routes. One-fifth of global crude exports passes through the strait.

The incident happened with tensions running high between Iran and the United States over President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal.

Iranian state television did not at first identify the seized vessel but said it was intercepted on Sunday and was involved in smuggling some 1 million liters (264,000 gallons) of Iranian fuel. Iran did not identify the nationalities of the crew.

Crude prices, which had been falling since last week, ticked higher almost immediately after the announcement.

Iran said the tanker was seized south of its Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Neighboring Qeshm Island has a Revolutionary Guard base on it.

Hours after that initial report, Iranian TV released footage of the ship surrounded by Guard vessels and showed the registration number painted on its bridge, matching that of the UAE-based MT Riah.

The Panamanian-flagged tanker stopped transmitting its location early Sunday near Qeshm Island, according to data on the tracking site Maritime Traffic. However, it often did so over the past two years when nearing Iranian waters, other tracking data shows.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, declined to comment.

It was not immediately clear whether the seizure was a straightforward attempt by Iran to curb oil smuggling or also an effort to assert its authority in the strait and send a message to its rivals in the region. The UAE has long lobbied for tougher U.S. policy toward Iran, though more recently it has called for de-escalation.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the seized vessel was at best a “small tanker” and that Iranian forces are cracking down on fuel smuggling daily.

“We live in a very dangerous environment. The United States has pushed itself and the rest of the world into probably the brink of an abyss,” he told reporters at the United Nations in New York. Zarif accused the Trump administration of “trying to starve our people” and “deplete our treasury” through sanctions.

Iranian media reported earlier this month that some 8 million liters of government-subsidized Iranian fuel are smuggled daily through Iran’s borders to other countries where prices are much higher.

Analysts at the Israeli-based maritime risk analytics company Windward said that the Riah has been at sea for the past two years and has a pattern of turning off its location transmitters for days at a time, particularly when entering Iranian waters.

The firm said data suggests that for more than two years that the 58-meter (190-foot) Riah had been clandestinely receiving fuel from an unknown source off the UAE coast and delivering it to other tankers, which then take it to Yemen and Somalia.

No distress calls were made from the Riah, and no ship owner reported a missing vessel.

The ship’s registered owner, Dubai-based Prime Tankers LLC, told The Associated Press it had sold the vessel to another company, Mouj Al-Bahar. A man who answered a telephone number registered to the company told the AP it didn’t own any ships.

Officials in the UAE said the ship was neither UAE-owned nor operated and carried no Emirati personnel.

In past weeks, the Persian Gulf region has seen six attacks on oil tankers that the U.S. has blamed on Iran, the downing of a U.S. surveillance drone by Iranian forces and a tense encounter between Iran’s Guard and the British navy. Iran has denied involvement in the attacks or the British naval encounter.

The U.S. has also sent thousands of additional troops and increased its security presence in the region.

Meanwhile, Iran has begun increasing uranium production and enrichment beyond the limits of the 2015 accord in a bid to pressure Europe to find ways around U.S. sanctions.

On Thursday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, urged European signatories of the deal to speed up their efforts to stop U.S. pressure, his website reported. He said efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear activities “are not acceptable under any circumstance.”

Karimi reported from Tehran, Iran. Associated Press writers Ian Phillips in New York and Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report. </s> Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday they had detained a "foreign tanker" and its crew for allegedly smuggling fuel, in the latest incident to send tensions soaring in the Gulf.

The announcement follows Iran saying it had come to the aid of a foreign tanker after receiving a distress call -- making no mention of the vessel being seized.

The Guards did not confirm whether the vessel they detained on Sunday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz was the same ship as that mentioned Tuesday by the foreign ministry.

"With a capacity of two million barrels and 12 foreign crew on board, the vessel was en route to deliver contraband fuel received from Iranian boats to foreign ships in farther regions when it was intercepted," the force's Sepahnews website said.

It was seized south of the Iranian island of Larak, the Guards said without detailing the name or provenance of the vessel.

The Guards' statement came after officials said Iran had come to the aid of an ailing tanker on Sunday.

"Iranian forces approached it and using a tugboat brought it into Iranian waters for necessary repairs," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.

TankerTrackers reported that the Panamanian-flagged tanker Riah, used in the Strait of Hormuz "for fuelling other vessels", had crossed into Iranian waters on Sunday.

According to the online oil shipment tracking service, at that point, the tanker's automatic identification system stopped sending signals.

The incident comes amid a spike in tensions in the Gulf, with US President Donald Trump calling off airstrikes against Iran at the last minute after Tehran downed an American drone.

Washington has blamed Tehran for a series of tanker attacks in recent months in the Gulf, charges Iran denies.

The United States said last week it was discussing military escorts for vessels in the Gulf after Britain claimed Iranian boats threatened one of its tankers.

London said three Iranian vessels had attempted to "impede the passage" of a British oil tanker in Gulf waters, forcing its warship HMS Montrose to intervene.

Iran has rejected the accusation, which followed Tehran warning of "consequences" over an Iranian tanker being seized off the coast of Gibraltar earlier this month.

British Royal Marines helped the Gibraltar authorities detain the vessel, which US officials believe was trying to deliver oil to Syria in violation of separate sets of EU and US sanctions -- a claim denied by Iran. </s> TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's Revolutionary Guard has seized an oil tanker carrying 700,000 liters of "smuggled fuel" in the Persian Gulf, Iranian media reported Sunday.

State TV and the semi-official Fars news agency reported that seven crew members were detained when the ship was seized late Wednesday. They did not provide further details on the vessel or the nationality of the crew.

"This foreign vessel had received the fuel from other ships and was transferring it to Persian Gulf Arab states," Fars quoted Gen. Ramazan Zirahi, a Guard commander, as saying.

This would mark the third commercial vessel seized by Iranian forces in recent weeks and the second accused of smuggling fuel. Tensions have soared in the Gulf in recent months as the U.S. has boosted its military presence and oil tankers have been seized by Iranian forces or targeted by unknown saboteurs.

The tensions are rooted in the U.S. decision last year to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear accord and impose sweeping sanctions on Iran. Iran recently began openly breaching limits set by the nuclear agreement, saying it cannot abide by the deal unless European signatories provide some kind of economic relief.

In July, Iran seized a British-flagged vessel in the Gulf in what some Iranian officials suggested was retaliation for the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in a British Royal Navy operation off Gibraltar. The U.K. says the Iranian oil tanker was suspected of violating European Union sanctions on oil shipments to Syria. </s> A Panamanian-flagged oil tanker disappeared Saturday night as it made its way through the ever-increasingly dangerous Strait of Hormuz.

The Riah — a 190-foot tanker based in the United Arab Emirates — stopped transmitting its location around 11 p.m. as it moved into Iranian waters, Fox News reported.

While it’s unclear what happened to the ship, the disappearance is raising concerns as tensions between the United States and Iran continue to mount.

The oil tanker typically makes trips from Dubai and Sharjah before moving through the Strait of Hormuz as it heads to Fujairah.

TRENDING: Breaking: Top Dem Nadler Openly Defies Pelosi on Impeachment… News Indicates She May Have Lost Control

Capt. Ranjith Raja of the data firm Refinitiv said that the oil tanker hasn’t switched off its tracking in three months, the Associated Press reported. “That is a red flag,” he said.

It appeared, however, that both Iranian officials and officials in the UAE were staying silent on the disappearance of the tanker.

However, on Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised statement that it would retaliate for the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker by British forces earlier this month, the Associated Press reported.

“God willing, the Islamic Republic and its committed forces will not leave this evil without a response,” he said.

Jeremy Hunt, British secretary of state for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, said that Britain would have the ship returned if Iran promised not to breach European sanctions regarding oil shipments to Syria.

Oil tankers have increasingly become the target of several attacks in or near the Strait of Hormuz.

Last week, Iranian vessels tried to block an oil tanker entering the Strait but quickly backed off after the British Navy warned them and trained their 30mm guns on them.

Similarly, two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman last month.

While Iran denied any involvement in the attacks, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed the Iranian regime was behind the attacks.

RELATED: Iran Tries and Fails To Seize British Boat as Aggression Ramps Up

“It is the assessment of the United States government that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks that occurred in the Gulf of Oman today,” Pompeo said in a news conference following the attacks.

“Taken as a whole, these unprovoked attacks present a clear threat to international peace and security, a blatant assault on the freedom of navigation and an unacceptable campaign of escalating tension by Iran,” he added.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian forces seized a ship in the Persian Gulf suspected of carrying smuggled fuel, state media reported Sunday, marking the Revolutionary Guard’s third seizure of a vessel in recent weeks and the latest show of strength by the paramilitary force amid a spike in regional tensions.

State TV and the semi-official Fars news agency reported that seven crew members were detained when the ship was seized late Wednesday carrying 700,000 liters (185,000 gallons) of “smuggled fuel” from Iran. The local reports did not provide further details on the vessel or the nationality of the crew.

The news agency reported the ship was seized near Farsi Island, where a Revolutionary Guard naval base is located. The island sits in the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran, north of the Strait of Hormuz.

“This foreign vessel had received the fuel from other ships and was transferring it to Persian Gulf Arab states,” Fars quoted Gen. Ramazan Zirahi, a Guard commander, as saying.

It was not immediately clear why a ship carrying Iranian fuel would transfer its cargo to energy exporting Gulf states, but smuggling has been a source of concern in Iran. Iranian media reported last month that some 8 million liters of government-subsidized Iranian fuel are smuggled daily to other countries where prices are much higher.

The new claims would make this the third vessel seized by the Guard in the past two weeks, and the second accused of smuggling fuel.

The U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, said it did not have information to confirm the reports. Maritime tracking experts also said they did not have any immediate information about the incident or details on the vessel.

Maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global said that, if confirmed, this is likely to be “another relatively low key interception designed to signal to the West that Iran maintains the capability and intent to exercise its influence” in the Persian Gulf.

Tensions in the Persian Gulf have escalated recently, with the United States boosting its military presence in the region and six oil tankers targeted in the Gulf of Oman in unclaimed acts of sabotage that the U.S. blames on Iran. Iran has denied any involvement in those attacks.

In June, Iran shot down an American surveillance drone in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump came close to retaliating, but called off an airstrike at the last moment. Washington has since claimed that a U.S. warship downed an Iranian drone in the strait. Iran denies losing any aircraft in the area.

Maritime security in the region was further jolted on July 18, when Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval forces seized a United Arab Emirates-based oil tanker, the Panamanian-flagged MT Riah, for allegedly smuggling some 1 million liters (264,000 gallons) of fuel from Iranian smugglers to foreign customers.

The following day, the Guard seized a British-flagged vessel in the Gulf in what some Iranian officials suggested was retaliation for the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in a British Royal Navy operation off Gibraltar, near Spain.

The U.K. says the Iranian oil tanker was suspected of violating European Union sanctions on oil shipments to Syria. Iran denies the ship was bound for Syria but has not disclosed its destination. Officials in Spain initially said the tanker was seized upon request from the United States.

The current tensions stem from Trump’s decision last year to withdraw the U.S. from Iran’s 2015 nuclear accord with world powers and impose sweeping sanctions on the country that have crippled its economy. In response, Iran began openly breaching limits set by the nuclear agreement to pressure European signatories to provide economic relief to help offset the sanctions.

Maritime security around the Persian Gulf is of international importance. The Strait of Hormuz sits at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, a shipping channel for one-fifth of all global crude exports. Petroleum products from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain are exported through the strait to countries around the world.

Some 67,533 ships sailed through strait last year, according to data from maritime publication Lloyd’s List sourcing research by Russell Group.

Ranjith Raja, a senior analyst at data firm Refinitiv, said this latest seized ship by Iran could be a barge or supply vessel rather than a commercial merchant tanker based on the amount of fuel it was allegedly transporting. Due to the numerous supply vessels operating in the area, it was not possible to pinpoint which ship had been seized, he said. </s> LONDON/DUBAI, July 19 (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they had captured a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf after Britain seized an Iranian vessel earlier this month, further raising tensions along a vital international oil shipping route.

Britain said it was urgently seeking information about the Stena Impero after the tanker, which had been heading to a port in Saudi Arabia, suddenly changed course after passing throughthe Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf.

The Revolutionary Guards said they seized the tanker at the request of Iranian maritime authorities for "not following international maritime regulations," state television reported.

Iran said it would retaliate and days later three Iranian vessels tried to block a British-owned tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz. But on that occasion, the Iranian vessels backed off when confronted by a British Royal Navy warship.

"We are urgently seeking further information and assessing the situation following reports of an incident in the Gulf," a spokesman for Britain'sMinistry of Defence said on Friday.

A person familiar with the matter said a meeting of the British government's emergency committee was being held.

Refinitiv data showed the Stena Impero was a British-flagged vessel owned by Stena Bulk. It showed the vessel's destination as the Saudi port of Jubail on the Gulf.

The map tracking the ship's course showed it veering off course with a sharp turn north at about 1517 GMT on Friday and heading towards the Iranian coast.
Iran confirms its seizure of a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker traveling from the United Arab Emirates, and its 12 crewmembers, in the Persian Gulf last week. The tanker is being held at Qeshm Island, and is accused by Iran of smuggling oil. The United Arab Emirates denies owning or operating the tanker.