UNITED NATIONS, Jan 23: Iran protested to the United Nations in a letter released on Wednesday about “the blatant violation of its sovereignty” by the US Navy in detaining an oil tanker in the Gulf for a day last month.

Writing to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, said US forces surrounded the tanker, The Sandy, on Dec 19 “and attacked the ship and its crew aggressively”.

The US forces held the crew at gunpoint, beat up The Sandy’s master and removed the ship’s manifest, the crew’s passports and belongings, he said. The vessel was released 15 hours later.

The Iranian pilot who had boarded The Sandy to steer it into the port of Abadan was “treated brutally and inhumanely”, Hosseinian wrote.

He said US Navy forces had inspected The Sandy two days earlier and given it clearance.

In his letter, dated Jan 17, Hosseinian said Iran “strongly condemns the action” and “holds the government of the United States liable for the damage made to its interests and nationals”.

The incident occurred two weeks before Israeli commandoes in the Red Sea seized another ship, the Karine A, which was allegedly carrying 50 tons of weapons to the Palestinian Authority.

On Jan 10, a US State Department spokesman said there was compelling evidence of Iranian involvement in the operation.—AFP