French navy helicopters helped the Belgian armed forces seize a Russian shadow fleet tanker, the Ethera, on Saturday. The sanctioned 2007-built product tanker, which has headed to load in Russia, has since been escorted to the port of Zeebrugge. TankerTrackers.com said the ship is linked to the Iranian figure Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani. His father, Ali Shamkhani, who up until Saturday was the chief political advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, was killed in the weekend’s bombings. Shamkhani’s fleet consists of nearly 40 tankers. The Belgian prime minister, Bart De Wever, commented: “Belgium will uphold international maritime law and the security of its territorial waters”, while French President Emmanuel Macron said the latest capture was a “major blow” to the shadow fleet. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsBelgium France