IRAN’S navy captured an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday that only months earlier had seen its cargo of Iranian oil seized by the United States.

The St Nikolas, previously known as the Suez Rajan, was involved in a dispute beginning in 2021 that ultimately saw the US Justice Department seize the one million barrels of Iranian crude oil on it.

The Iranian navy’s “seizure of the oil tanker does not constitute hijacking; rather, it is a lawful undertaking sanctioned by a court order and corresponds to the theft of Iran’s very own oil,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in a statement.