dubai an oil tanker long suspected of carrying sanctioned iranian crude oil offloaded its cargo near texas on sunday tracking data showed even as tehran has threatened to target shipping in the persian gulf over itshiptracking data analyzed by the associated press showed the marshall islandsflagged suez rajan began the hourslong shiptoship transfer of its oil to another tanker the mr euphrates near galveston some 70 kilometers 45 miles southeast of houstonthe fate of the cargo aboard the suez rajan has become mired in the wider tensions between the us and the islamic republic even as tehran and washington work toward a trade of billions of dollars in frozen iranian assets in south korea for the release of five iranianamericans held in tehran iran has been trying to evade sanctions and continue selling its oil abroad while the us and its allies have been seizing cargoes since 2019 after the countrys nuclear deal allowing the trade collapsedalready irans paramilitary revolutionary guard has warned that those involved in offloading the suez rajans cargo should expect to be struck back the us navy has increased its presence steadily in recent weeks in the mideast sending the troopandaircraftcarrying uss bataan through the strait of hormuz in recent days and considering putting armed personnel on commercial ships traveling through the strait to stop iran from seizing additional shipsthe los angelesbased private equity firm oaktree capital management which owned the vessel up until late may repeatedly declined to comment publicly greek firms empire navigation which operates the vessel and alma maritime ltd the ships new owner did not respond to requests for commentthe saga over the suez rajan began in february 2022 when the group united against nuclear iran said it suspected the tanker carried oil from irans khargh island its main oil distribution terminal in the persian gulffor months the ship sat in the south china sea off the northeast coast of singapore before suddenly sailing for the gulf of mexico without explanation analysts believe the vessels cargo likely has been seized by american officials though there still were no public court documents early sunday involving the suez rajanin the meantime iran has seized two tankers near the strait of hormuz including one with cargo for us oil major chevron corp in july the top commander of the revolutionary guards naval arm threatened further action against anyone offloading the suez rajan with state media linking the recent seizures to the cargos fatewe hereby declare that we would hold any oil company that sought to unload our crude from the vessel responsible and we also hold america responsible rear adm alireza tangsiri said at the time the era of hit and run is over and if they hit they should expect to be struck backirans mission to the united nations did not respond to a request for comment over the offloading of the suez rajan the staterun irna news agency acknowledged this ap story but did not elaborate westernbacked naval organizations in the persian gulf