DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said the oil cargo of an Iranian-flagged supertanker seized by Indonesia last week does not belong to Tehran, Iranian state media reported on Friday.
A statement from Iran’s oil ministry did not identify the owner of the cargo of MT Arman 114, an Iranian-flagged supertanker suspected of involvement in the illegal transshipment of crude oil, which Indonesia’s coast guard said on July 11 it had seized.
“Published news linking the cargo of this ship to… Iran have no validity and this is done with the aim of creating a negative atmosphere against our country,” Iran’s oil ministry statement said, without elaborating.
On Thursday the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ navy said Iran would retaliate against any oil company unloading Iranian oil from a seized tanker currently anchored outside the port of Houston, amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington.
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Jan Harvey)
