Iran Warns Against Unloading Iranian Oil from Seized Tanker

In April, the US confiscated Iranian oil on a tanker at sea in a sanctions enforcement operation [Getty/file]
In April, the US confiscated Iranian oil on a tanker at sea in a sanctions enforcement operation [Getty/file]
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Iran Warns Against Unloading Iranian Oil from Seized Tanker

In April, the US confiscated Iranian oil on a tanker at sea in a sanctions enforcement operation [Getty/file]
In April, the US confiscated Iranian oil on a tanker at sea in a sanctions enforcement operation [Getty/file]

Iran would retaliate against any oil company unloading Iranian oil from a seized tanker, a senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' navy said on Thursday.

State media cited the Guards' navy commander Alireza Tangsiri as saying that Tehran would hold Washington responsible for allowing the unloading of the tanker's content.

In April, the US confiscated Iranian oil on a tanker at sea in a sanctions enforcement operation.

Sources familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, had said Washington took control of the oil cargo aboard the Marshall Islands tanker Suez Rajan after securing an earlier court order, Reuters reported.

The ship tracking data showed that the tanker's last reported position was near southern Africa on April 22.

On Monday, the US announced it would send additional F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, along with a warship to the Middle East, in a bid to monitor key waterways in the region following Iran's seizure and harassment of commercial shipping vessels in recent months.



Türkiye Replaces Pro-Kurdish Mayors with State Officials in 2 Cities

Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)
Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)
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Türkiye Replaces Pro-Kurdish Mayors with State Officials in 2 Cities

Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)
Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)

Türkiye stripped two elected pro-Kurdish mayors of their posts in eastern cities on Friday, for convictions on terrorism-related offences, the interior ministry said, temporarily appointing state officials in their places instead.

The local governor replaced mayor Cevdet Konak in Tunceli, while a local administrator was appointed in the place of Ovacik mayor Mustafa Sarigul, the ministry said in a statement, adding these were "temporary measures".
Konak is a member of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, which has 57 seats in the national parliament, and Sarigul is a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). Dozens of pro-Kurdish mayors from its predecessor parties have been removed from their posts on similar charges in the past, Reuters reported.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said authorities had deemed that Sarigul's attendance at a funeral was a crime and called the move to appoint a trustee "a theft of the national will", adding his party would stand against the "injustice".
"Removing a mayor who has been elected by the votes of the people for two terms over a funeral he attended 12 years ago has no more jurisdiction than the last struggles of a government on its way out," Ozel said on X.
Earlier this month, Türkiye replaced three pro-Kurdish mayors in southeastern cities over similar terrorism-related reasons, drawing backlash from the DEM Party and others.
Last month, a mayor from the CHP was arrested after prosecutors accused him of belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), banned as a terrorist group in Türkiye and deemed a terrorist group by the European Union and United States.
The appointment of government trustees followed a surprise proposal by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main ally last month to end the state's 40-year conflict with the PKK.