Iran has seized an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman

Iran's Permanent Mission to the United Nations said in a statement to CNN that the seizure of the crude oil tanker by Iranian forces on Thursday was not a hijacking but a "legitimate undertaking sanctioned by court order."

A ship carrying at least four armed men aboard in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday turned its course towards Iranian territorial waters, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.

UKMTO said the ship's company security officer reported hearing unidentified voices on the phone, after which contact with the ship was lost. The reported seizure occurred Thursday morning (about 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday) in the waters between Iran and Oman.

Tasnim News Agency, a media outlet linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Iran had seized the tanker and was transferring it to an Iranian port, in retaliation for the United States seizing the same ship and its oil last year. 

Tasnim cited a statement from the Iranian Navy as saying that the seizure followed an Iranian court order.

“This tanker, which had been renamed ST Nicholas and was carrying oil in the Sea of Oman, was seized with the order of the judicial courts in retaliation for oil theft by the US regime, and was towed to the ports of the Islamic Republic Being transferred to. Be handed over to judicial authorities,” it said.

Tanker Trackers, a maritime monitoring website, said the seized ship was a Marshall Islands-flagged crude oil tanker named St. Nicholas, formerly known as Suez Rajan.

The Suez Canal, which was at the center of a dispute between the United States and Iran, was seized by the US government last year after a court found it was being used to "secretly sell and transport Iranian oil to a customer abroad." "Was done for. The US Justice Department said in a press release.

The seizure of the ship was described by the Iranian Mission to the United Nations as "a legitimate undertaking sanctioned by court order". He said it "consistent with the theft of Iran's own oil. Following established legal procedures is the most prudent approach to resolving this matter."

Some context: There are international concerns that the conflict in Gaza could spread to the wider Middle East region.

Adding to the concern are actions by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who are stepping up attacks on ships in the Red Sea in what they say is revenge against Israel for its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

The US Navy on Tuesday shot down 21 Houthi missiles and drones launched from Yemen, according to a statement from US Central Command, in one of the largest Houthi attacks in the Red Sea in recent months.

The attacks have forced some of the world's largest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world's most important maritime trade routes, potentially dealing a blow to the global economy.

CNN's Mustafa Salem in Abu Dhabi contributed to this reporting.