Armed individuals board oil tanker near Oman, prompting course diversion towards Iran

On Thursday, at least four armed individuals boarded a vessel in the Gulf of Oman and altered its course towards Iranian territorial waters, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. The Company Security Officer heard unfamiliar voices over the phone before losing contact with the vessel, UKMTO stated. The incident occurred early on Thursday morning, around 10:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, in the waters between Iran and Oman.

The UK naval information service reported that the individuals who illegally boarded the vessel were dressed in black military-style uniforms and masks.

According to Tanker Trackers, a maritime monitoring website, the captured vessel is a crude oil tanker called St Nikolas, previously known as the Suez Rajan, and is registered under the Marshall Islands flag.

Last year, the US government seized the Suez Rajan, which was the focus of a dispute between the United States and Iran. A court determined that the vessel was being used to secretly sell and transport Iranian oil to an overseas customer, as stated in a press release by the US Department of Justice. Court documents revealed that "multiple entities" associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were part of the operation to conceal the oil's origin and unlawfully sell it to China.

The US government seized nearly 1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil, as stated by the DOJ. In April last year, Empire Navigation, the company overseeing the ship carrying the oil, admitted to conspiring to breach the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Suez Rajan transported the illicit cargo to the US and covered the considerable expenses of the voyage, as reported by the DOJ.

CNN has contacted Empire Navigation and the Iranian mission at the United Nations for comment.

This is a developing story and will be updated.