Iran-Linked Oil Tankers Seized by Navy Sailing Towards US

(Bloomberg) — Two of the Iran-linked supertankers seized by U.S. naval forces at the start of the war are just weeks away from reaching the U.S., where authorities have vowed to seize the vessels and the millions of dollars worth of oil they carry.

It’s an unusual voyage for Iranian barrels, which have been banned in the US for decades, and a testament to the surprising upheaval caused by the seven-month conflict between Washington and Tehran.

The Tifani and Majestic X, both boarded by U.S. forces in the Indian Ocean in April when President Donald Trump imposed a blockade aimed at getting Iran to end the war, skirted the coast of Brazil over the past week, according to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg. A third banned ship was observed heading west into the Atlantic after rounding the Cape of Good Hope.

The seizure stunned the market at a time when the US imposed a tight embargo on Iran’s oil exports. The ships initially changed course several times in the Indian Ocean, so it was unclear where they would eventually go.

In April, Bloomberg News reported that the Justice Department had begun forfeiture proceedings against Tifani and Majestic X, which is also known as Phonix. The ships were boarded near Sri Lanka earlier that month.

Homeland Security Investigations later said in a post on X that law enforcement agents were executing federal warrants to seize the tankers and the roughly 4 million barrels of Iranian oil they were carrying. A third tanker – known as the Lenore and Davina – was intercepted in the Indian Ocean in June.

The US Attorney’s Office in Washington confirmed on Friday that it has filed cases involving Tifani, Majestic X and Lenore. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a spokeswoman, said in a statement that they could not comment further on “any operational details regarding the vessels or the agency’s future plans, if any, to seize additional vessels or cargo.”

The so-called very large oil carriers can each carry 2 million barrels of oil, valuing the entire cargo at nearly $600 million at current market prices. All sail at about 8 or 9 knots, while normal speeds are 12 to 13 knots.

Tankertrackers.com, a firm that has long monitored Iranian oil flows, said that based on the precedent of US actions in Venezuela, the ships were likely to go to the US.

A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a WhatsApp request for comment.

If they reach a U.S. port, it will mark the first Iranian crude to reach U.S. shores since 2023, when shipments went through an earlier confiscation process, Energy Information Administration data show. Around that time, the US ordered a tanker carrying Iranian oil bound for China to divert to the US.

In past cases where tankers have been seized, the Trump administration has attempted to sell the seized vessels and oil for profit. To do this, the Department of Justice has used asset forfeiture as a legal tool to seize property said to be connected to criminal activity, often through proceedings against the property itself rather than the individual.

Trump appeared to allude to the tactic at a dinner in Palm Beach, Fla., in May, calling it a “very profitable” business. “We took over the ship. We took over the cargo, we took over the oil,” he said. “Who would have thought we were doing this? We’re like pirates.”

Such efforts have run into problems in the past. When the U.S. government filed a forfeiture complaint against the 1.8 million-barrel oil tanker that was seized in November during the Venezuelan blockade, the vessel’s owner stepped in to block the ship’s sale. By March, the Trump administration had already spent $47 million on the Skipper’s maintenance, nearly five times the value of the aging supertanker.

To streamline its efforts, the Justice Department has since sought to implement an archaic naval court-martial system to seize Iranian oil tankers as American prizes, Bloomberg reported in August. The Justice Department has selected the federal trial court in the Southern District of Texas as venue.

In response to questions about the status of the three tankers earlier this month, the White House referred to the Justice Department, which in turn referred to a statement from U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Aaron Reitz.

“My office stands ready to represent the interests of the United States in adjudicating awards brought in the Southern District of Texas through our federal courts in the interest of national security and justice,” Reitz said in a statement.

The US announced its initial naval blockade on April 12, seeking to cut off Iranian oil flows and deprive the country of revenue while pushing for an agreement to end the conflict. It mirrored measures previously deployed against Venezuela in the run-up to the capture of its then leader Nicolas Maduro.

The embargo was eased when the two sides reached a tentative truce in June, but was subsequently reimposed when their peace talks broke down and renewed hostilities broke out.

–With help from Jimmy Jenkins and Golnar Motevalli.

(Adds US Attorney’s statement in seventh paragraph)

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