Tifani
Sanctioned crude tanker, IMO 9273337, seized by US forces off Sri Lanka
The Justice Department has begun forfeiture proceedings against the Tifani, boarded off Sri Lanka in April 2026 with close to 2 million barrels of Iranian crude aboard. On 25 September 2026 it was still weeks from a US port.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for Tifani
Became the subject of Justice Department forfeiture proceedings
Iran Conflict 2026: Three seized tankers near American portsBackground
The Tifani is a Very Large Crude Carrier, IMO 9273337, built in 2003 and rated at 299,999 tonnes deadweight. It has sailed as Amfitriti and as Anahi. Its flag history runs through Palau, Panama, Cameroon, Tanzania and St Kitts and Nevis, and it was flying the flag of Botswana when US forces boarded it. Treasury's listing links the hull to Ensa Ship Management Private Limited.
Treasury designated the vessel on 30 July 2025 under its Iran programme, the authority being Executive Order 13846, over its part in moving Iranian petroleum. The notice said the ship had twice loaded Iranian oil by ship-to-ship transfer near Singapore since December 2024, with its transponder switched off. Both the Pentagon and the International Maritime Organization treat the hull as stateless, whatever flag it flies.
That statelessness is the point of such a hull: there is no flag state to protest a boarding on its behalf. It is also why the Tifani now sits in a legal argument rather than a naval one. A successful forfeiture would end with the United States selling Iranian oil it took at SEA, which has pulled attention back to prize law.
What is the IMO number of the tanker Tifani?
Why did the United States seize the Tifani?
What flag was the Tifani sailing under?
Who manages the tanker Tifani?
