Israel opened a new front against Tehran on Tuesday with the country’s first-ever shipping sanctions by ordering the seizure of 18 tankers allegedly involved in selling Iranian oil to finance militant operations, Ednews informs via SPGlobal.
The measures are aimed at vessels involved in “dark” ship-to-ship oil transfers with a US-sanctioned tanker off the coast of Syria while AIS tracking systems were switched off, according to Israeli officials.
On Aug. 6, Israel's National Bureau for Counter-Terror Financing, part of the Ministry of Defense, announced "seizure orders" for the ships with a total capacity of nearly 1.88 million dwt to thwart "the activity of a terrorist organization."