A tanker is drifting through the Adriatic, no one knows who the buyer of the oil is: Serbia is also mentioned

Photo: Tanjug/AP

For the first time since 2018, since the United States imposed stricter sanctions against Iran, a tanker carrying Iranian oil is sailing in the Adriatic, near the island of Krk in Croatia.

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Although the European Union has not imposed an embargo on Iranian oil, it is undesirable because of US sanctions, and anyone who dares to trade, transport or unload it, as well as banks through which payments are made, risks fines and problems in the US market, as well as reputational damage.

When the Americans discovered what they it was transporting, the tanker with Iranian oil suddenly became something that no one wants to accept and has been sailing in the Adriatic for a week now, with a so far uncertain fate.

First, on May 4, she reached Omisalj, where, according to the ship's schedule, it was supposed to unload the cargo into the Janaf (Adriatic oil pipeline).

Then, the US lobbying group UANI (United Against Nuclear Iran) sent warning letters to Janaf, the port agency Capris, through which the tanker was hired, and the Port of Rijeka. Immediately afterwards, the tanker, which sails under the flag of Panama, returned to the Ionian Sea, but on Sunday it set sail for the Adriatic again, reports Vecernji List.

Shortly after midnight on Monday, she was again at the entrance to the Bay of Omisalj, and yesterday at noon the ship was at a tanker anchorage near Janaf or the pilot station between Krk and Kostrena.

Those behind Janaf say that the arrival of the ship was not announced to them, "neither now nor earlier" and the Slovenian agency Capris, which operates the ship, is refusing to comment on the case and did not want to name the buyer of the oil and the final destination, Vecernji List writes and says that it could be Hungary or Serbia.

(Telegraf Biznis)