Two oil tankers recently seized by Iran are anchored off the coast of one of its key port cities near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, satellite photos showed.
The photos from Planet Labs PBC showed the Advantage Sweet and the Niovi located south of Bandar Abbas near a naval base in the port city's Hormozgan province on Saturday.
Their capture represents the latest ship seizure by Iran amid tensions with the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
Iran seized the Marshall Islands-flagged Advantage Sweet, staffed by 23 Indians and one Russian, on April 27 as it travelled in the Gulf of Oman.
Tehran claimed the vessel had struck another ship, though tracking data showed no erratic behaviour. Iran has made claims in the past over ship seizures to cover for the vessels being taken to use as pawns in negotiations with the West.
The Advantage Sweet carried Kuwaiti crude oil for American energy firm Chevron at the time of its capture.
The Panama-flagged Niovi was seized last week by commandos from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who surrounded the vessel with fast attack boats and forced it to sail into Iran's territorial waters.
The US navy filmed the incident and released the footage, calling Iran's actions “unwarranted, irresponsible and a present threat to maritime security and the global economy”.
The seizures come as another tanker believed to be carrying Iranian crude disappeared from anchorage off Singapore a year after being identified as trying to evade US sanctions.
The Financial Times, as well as the maritime intelligence firm Ambrey, both reported that the ship named Suez Rajan was seized by order of American authorities. US officials and those associated with the Suez Rajan have not responded to questions about the tanker's disappearance while on a westward path.
Meanwhile, an internet account describing itself as a hacker group claimed responsibility on Sunday for allegedly taking down websites associated with Iran's Foreign Ministry.
The claims of the account GhyamSarnegouni, whose name in Farsi means “Rise to Overthrow”, went unaddressed for hours as websites of the Foreign Ministry's remained down over what was initially called “scheduled maintenance and upgrades”.
Cached versions of the websites of Iranian diplomatic posts in Munich, Germany, and Seoul, South Korea, appeared to have been defaced with a message in Farsi reading: “Death to Khamenei, Hail Rajavi.”
“Khamenei” refers to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while Rajavi is likely to refer to Massoud Rajavi, the missing leader of the Iranian exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or his wife Maryam, who is now the public face of the group.
“There is a great revolution in Iran, the uprising will go until the demolition of the palace of oppression,” the message read.
Early on Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry websites were back online. The state-run IRNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani as acknowledging its websites had been hacked while trying to downplay the incident.
Drishyam 2
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Murali Gopy
Rating: 4 stars
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The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
The five pillars of Islam
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
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Jetour T1 specs
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UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
