LOC18:58
15:58 GMT
ALGIERS, July 20 (KUNA) -- An oil tanker of Algeria's SONATRACH was forced on Friday by Iranian Marine's coastguards to head to Iran's territorial waters, the national hydrocarbon company said on Saturday.
The move took place when the tanker was crossing the Strait of Hormuz, it said in a statement, blasting it as a breach of navigation regulations.
"Iran forced an Algerian tanker to move to its territorial waters, while crossing the Straits of Hormuz yesterday," according to the statement, carried by Algeria's official news agency, APS.
The company lashed out at the Iranian move as the harbinger of a geopolitical crisis in the Middle East region, expecting negative impacts on the global oil market.
However, Algerian authorities have not made any comment on the incident so far. (end)
mr.mt