The British oil tanker "Stena Impero" is now heading north towards Iran, the ship’s managing company, Northern Marine, has said.
"We are presently unable to contact the vessel which is now heading north towards Iran", the owners, Stena Bulk, and the ship’s managers, Northern Marine, said, as quoted by The Guardian.
The paper added that the ship’s owners have issued a statement saying that the vessel was "approached by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter" while sailing through international waters in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said they have confiscated a UK tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported, citing the country's state TV.
According to the report, the British oil tanker "Stena Impero" was detained over a violation of international norms.
A defence expert has shared an image on Twitter, providing details of the tanker's seizure.
لحظه توقیف نفتکش انگلیسی توسط نیروی دریایی #سپاه و تغییر مسیر نفتکش به سوی سواحل ایران pic.twitter.com/B1bCInQGQM
— Hossein Dalirian (@HosseinDalirian) July 19, 2019
Earlier on Friday, Reuters reported, citing a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence, that Britain was urgently seeking more information after reports that one of its tankers was involved in an incident in the Persian Gulf.
The incident comes on the same day as a court in Gibraltar announced that an Iranian tanker, the Grace 1, would be detained for 30 more days. The tanker was carrying about two million barrels of crude oil when it was detained by British Royal Marines on suspicion of shipping oil to Syria. Iran has denied the allegation.