Iranian tanker carrying 1.3 million barrels of oil breaks down in Red Sea
Staff of HELM safe, working to fix technical malfunction off coast of Saudi Arabia, state media says
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TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian oil tanker has broken down in the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia but its crew is safe and carrying out repairs, the oil ministry’s website said on Wednesday.
The HELM suffered a “technical fault” about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the Saudi port of Yanbu on Tuesday, the ministry’s website said, citing the National Iranian Tanker Company.
“The crew of the tanker are busy fixing the defect and the vessel is in a stable situation from a safety standpoint,” the NITC’s technical director Akbar Jabalameli was quoted as saying.
The crew of the tanker was safe and “in full readiness to solve the problem,” he added.
Technical problem of Iranian #oil tanker in #Red_Sea
Technical director of #NITC:
– Crew of oil tanker #HELM are fixing the technical problem
– The ship is in stable condition from a safety standpoint
– Fortunately, the ship’s crew are in safe condition pic.twitter.com/il8S2KMmYX— ایسنا جهان (@Isna_Int) August 21, 2019
TankerTrackers.com, which monitors ship movements, said the HELM was carrying 1.3 million barrels of crude oil and heading towards the Suez Canal from the Iranian island of Kharg.
The vessel appears on the US Treasury’s website in a list of entities subject to American sanctions.
It is the second such Iranian breakdown in recent months after the tanker Happiness 1 was forced to seek repairs in the Saudi port of Jeddah port that reportedly cost the Islamic Republic $10 million.
It comes days after another Iranian oil tanker — the Adrian Darya — set sail after being released by the British overseas territory of Gibraltar despite a US bid to detain it.
Forces of US ally Britain had helped seize the tanker in the Strait of Gibraltar on July 4 on suspicion it was shipping oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions.
But a court in the British territory ordered its release last week and the ship began sailing eastward on Sunday night, its final destination unknown.
Iran and the United States have been at loggerheads since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal last year and began reimposing sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The Times of Israel Community.