Dubai: The Associated Press examined satellite images from Sunday that show two oil tankers that Iran recently captured off the coast of one of its important port cities on the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Photos from Planet Labs PBC on Saturday showed the Niovi and the Advantage Sweet anchored close to a naval base in Bandar Abbas, a port city in Iran's Hormozgan province. 

Although it seems the two ships may have been taken for different reasons, their capture represents just the latest ship seizure carried out by Iran amid tensions with the West over its quickly developing nuclear programme.

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On April 27, Iran took control of the Advantage Sweet, a vessel flying the flag of the Marshall Islands and crewed by 23 Indians and one Russian. Although tracking information for the Advantage Sweet showed no erratic behaviour on its journey, Tehran claimed the ship had struck another ship. Iran has in the past claimed to have seized ships to cover up the fact that it had actually taken the ships to use as bargaining chips with the West.

At the time of its capture, the Advantage Sweet was transporting Kuwaiti crude oil for the American energy company Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, California. Additionally, a year after being identified as attempting to evade US sanctions, another tanker thought to be carrying Iranian crude vanished from anchorage off Singapore, prompting its seizure.

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Both The Financial Times and the maritime intelligence company Ambrey have reported that the Suez Rajan ship was impounded at the direction of American authorities. Requests for information regarding the Suez Rajan tanker's disappearance while travelling westward have gone unanswered by US officials and those connected to the ship.

The Panama-flagged tanker The Niovi was taken by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Wednesday as it departed a dry dock in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on its way to Fujairah on the eastern coast of the UAE. Data from S&P Global Market Intelligence obtained by the AP showed that the Niovi in July 2020 received oil from a ship then known as the Oman Pride, despite not carrying any cargo.

The Oman Pride and those connected to the ship were sanctioned by the US Treasury in August 2021 because they were "involved in an international oil smuggling network" that supported the Quds Force, the expeditionary division of the Revolutionary Guard that operates throughout the Middle East.

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Separately, alleged emails made public online by Wikiran, a website that requests stolen documents from the Islamic Republic, claim that the Niovi's cargo was illegally sold to companies in China.

Against Nuclear Arms Unified As a result of Tehran's tracking of sanctioned crude shipments, Iran "strongly suspects the seizure of the Niovi is related to a dispute over a shipment of Iranian oil," according to Claire Jungman, the organization's chief of staff. According to Iran, it seized the Niovi in response to an unnamed Tehran court order.

Several phone calls to the Niovi's managers seeking comment went unanswered. The Niovi was staffed with sailors from Greece, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, according to the Greek Coast Guard.