 The Iranian navy has seized a US-linked oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman as part of a long-running dispute with the US over an American court order a year ago that seized Iranian oil on the tanker and unloaded the cargo in Texas, according to Guardian. Official Iranian news agencies said that the tanker had been taken on the authority of an Iranian court order, but the news will add to the growing tensions about freedom of navigation in the region as a result of repeated Houthi rebel attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, the vessel, which was carrying Iraqi oil bound for Turkey, changed course after the boarding and headed in the direction of Bhandari Jaskin Iran. The seizure of the Marshall Islands flagged St. Nicholas coincides with weeks of attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militias targeting Red Sea shipping routes, according to Reuters. After the theft of Iranian oil by the United States last year, St. Nicholas tanker was seized by Iran's navy this morning with a judicial order, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing a statement by the navy.in Washington, the Pentagon said Iranian forces unlawfully boarded the St. Nicholas and the Gulf of Oman and forced it to change course toward Iranian territorial waters. The White House condemned the seizure. No justification whatsoever to seize it, none whatsoever. They need to let it go, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said.