The Iranian government on Saturday confirmed that it had seized a tanker vessel operated by Cyprus-based company Columbia Shipmanagement, with news agency Reuters quoting state media as saying the ship was carrying “unauthorised cargo”.
The ship, the Marshall Islands-flagged Talara, was intercepted by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Friday while sailing towards Singapore, with what Reuters described as a “cargo of petrochemicals” on board.
Reuters later quoted maritime sources as saying that the ship was carrying “high-sulphur gasoil” from the United Arab Emirates’ port of Sharjah towards Singapore, with high-sulphur gasoil typically used for power plants, industrial furnaces, and other stationary applications.
Columbia Shipmanagement said it had lost contact with the Talara while it was located around 20 nautical miles (37 kilometres) off the coast of Khor Fakkan, which is located on the UAE’s east coast, south of the Strait of Hormuz, achokepoint between the most northerly point of Oman and Iran’s southern coast.
The strait is immensely important to global trade and energy, as it provides the only seaborne access between the Persian Gulf and the open ocean.
Columbia Shipmanagement added that it was “working closely with relevant parties” with the aim of restoring contact, while the United States’ military said it was aware of the incident and actively monitoring the situation.
The ship is owned by Pasha Finance, a Cyprus-based company, with its headquarters in Limassol, which allegedly has links to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
The Aliyev family jointly owns Pasha Holding alongside the Pashayev family. Ilham Aliyev is the patriarch of the Aliyev family, and his wife, Azerbaijan’s first lady and Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva, is the daughter of Arif Pashayev, the patriarch of the Pashayev family.
Pasha Holding has a number of subsidiaries, including Pasha Insurance, Pasha Capital, Pasha Investments, and banks named Pasha Bank in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, but it is not yet clear whether Pasha Finance is also a subsidiary of Pasha Holding.
Pasha Holding owns AZN 23.3 billion (€11.8bn) in assets and posted a revenue of AZN 3.07bn (€1.55bn) last year.
Were it to be confirmed, the Aliyev family jointly owning a company based in Limassol would be noteworthy, given Ilham Aliyev’s historical stance on the Cyprus problem.
Aliyev held regular meetings with former Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar during the latter’s five-year term in office, and the official website of Azerbaijan’s presidency referred to Tatar as the “President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” in its releases.
He had also promised in April to ensure that the north will gain international recognition, telling a diplomatic forum that “we are only thinking about how we can help our brothers protect their state”.
The seizing of the ship and any further, similar actions may have knock-on effects for the global economy, too, with Shipping Deputy Minister Marina Hadjimanolis having warned earlier this year that there may be “global implications” if Iran blockades the Strait of Hormuz.
She added that if the strait is blockaded, the first effects to be felt in Cyprus will be an increase in fuel prices and increases in the price of insuring ships, while “supply chains and transport in general” are also expected to be impacted.
While the seizure of one ship does not constitute a blockade, eyes will be firmly fixed on Iran in the coming weeks in light of the seizure of the Talara.
News website Euronews reported earlier this year that around 20 per cent of global oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, including European imports from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
As such, if the strait were to be closed, energy prices would spike, and Europe could face energy shortages.
