All three commercial ships disabled by US Navy strikes off the coast of Oman this week had been detained earlier, found unsafe or placed under sanctions, records show, even as the operator of the vessel on which three Indian sailors died denied any connection to Iranian oil.
Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said two of the three ships had been subject to sanctions by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, while the third was “non-compliant.” The ships are Marivex, Settebello and Jalveer.
The first ship to hit this week was the Marivex, which had a 24-member Indian crew on board. The Palau-flagged tanker is linked to Panama-based Arihant Shipping, which was sanctioned by OFAC in December 2025, when it sailed under the name Arihant. The Treasury Department said it has moved hundreds of thousands of barrels of Iranian fuel oil and bitumen into the Persian Gulf since July 2025.
The ship was renamed in February 2026 and withdrawn from the Indian Register of Shipping at the request of its owners, according to maritime database Equasis. Losing this rating, which sets minimum safety standards, usually costs the ship its insurance and its ability to operate legally. When US forces warned the Marivex on June 7, it signaled compliance and headed south toward Masirah Island, then turned off its transponders to hide its location, people familiar with the matter said.
The Sitipilo, which was struck on Wednesday, was the ship on which three Indian sailors died. Previously called Hana, her designation was suspended in 2021 for non-compliance. It was detained at the Russian port of Novorossiysk in 2022, where inspectors found 29 deficiencies, including fire safety, navigation and medical care, and again at the Chinese port of Lianyungang in February 2026 regarding emergency systems, lifeboats and weather conditions.
The ship is owned by Aqua Aurora Shipping Lines and operated by IOS Marine FZ, based in the UAE, although public records show that Aqua Aurora once listed a Chandigarh address registered to Global Tankers Pvt Ltd, a company controlled by UAE-based Indian national Jugwinder Singh Brar that was sanctioned by OFAC on April 12, 2025.
When HT visited the address, a guard at a nearby building said Global Tankers had moved away years earlier. The link between the two companies rests on this single address, which has now been vacated.
IOS Marine rejected the US account. It said in a public statement that the Settebello had “absolutely no connection to Iran or Iranian oil” and was a civilian vessel engaged in legitimate trade. She added that the ship was parked for about 10 days before it collided. The statement did not mention the Chandigarh address or registration of the global carriers.
The ship Gulvir, which was bombed on Thursday, had a crew of 20 Indians on board who were reported safe. The asphalt tanker flying the Guinea-Bissau flag was heading to Mangaluru. It is owned by Liberia-based Jal Shipping and operated by Doorabeen Shipping OPC Pvt Ltd, listed with a Mumbai address, according to the MagicPort database. It was detained at the Indian port of Haldia in February 2026 due to lack of fire safety and emergency preparedness.
No OFAC sanction has been recorded against the Gulliver, making it, by the department’s calculation, a non-compliant vessel.
US Central Command said it disabled the ship with two Hellfire missiles after the crew failed to comply with its directives, and that it violated the blockade by trying to transport Iranian oil. People familiar with the matter said the ship made several calls at Iranian ports and conducted ship-to-ship transfers with sanctioned ships.
The two parties did not reconcile their accounts. US Central Command says its forces only struck after repeated warnings, and that Gulliver’s crew ignored them. IOS Marine says the Settebello was never contacted, and has called on the US to reveal any evidence of this.
