Indonesia arrested illegal oil tankers from Iran and Panama

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Indonesian authorities yesterday announced it 24-1 detained Iranian oil tankers and oil tankers of Panama on suspicion of transporting oil performed illegally in its waters, according to news agency AP.

Mr. Wisnu Pramadita, spokesperson for the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency, announced that two tankers, the MT Horse with the Iranian flag, and the MT Freya with the Panama flag, were detained in waters off the coast of Indonesia 's West Kalimantan province.

Pramadita said the ships were on suspicion of a number of violations including not flying the national flag, disabling identification systems, illegal anchoring as well as illegal fuel transport between ships and spills.

Authorities are escorting these two ships to Batam Island in the Riau archipelago for investigation.

According to Indonesian officials, Iranian state television has admitted the oil tanker arrest.

Iran , which has large reserves of oil and natural gas, has been severely affected overseas sales due to US sanctions after US President Donald Trump unilaterally announced his withdrawal. nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers in 2018.

This has cut down an important source of revenue for the Iranian government.

Since then, Iran has mainly relied on black market operations and transactions with Venezuela to maintain the country's primary economic sector.

The Iranian state-owned tanker fleet frequently turns off Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracking devices to try to conceal where they deliver goods.

AIS beacons are a safe way for other ships to be aware of what's around, however AIS can be tracked.

Analysts point out that Iran's ships often pass their oil on to other ships, then pretend to only sell crude.