Seized Tanker Awaits Unloading

A Russian oil tanker seized in the Gulf for what the U.S. said was the smuggling of Iraqi oil docked in Oman on Monday (today), and its cargo will be unloaded soon, a Russian diplomat in the Gulf Arab state said. Russian officials said they expected the tanker, which was detained last week by a multinational patrol enforcing U.N. sanctions on Iraq, to be released after unloading. The U.S. says it had clear evidence the fuel was Iraqi. A Russian diplomat in Oman said the ship, which docked earlier, had been moved to an area near the capital Muscat where the fuel could be unloaded later today or early Tuesday.