Ship captain pleads guilty in US court

Atlantic Chase Over Sanctioned Iranian Oil 

Washington: A ship captain accused of transporting sanctioned Iranian oil and leading the US Coast Guard on a weeks-long chase across the Atlantic Ocean has pleaded guilty in a federal court in Washi­n­g­ton, the Justice Department said.

Avtandil Kalandadze, 47, a citizen of Georgia and former master of the tanker Bella 1, pleaded guilty to failing to obey a US Coast Guard order to stop the vessel during an interdiction operation.

Federal prosecutors said Kalandadze commanded the Bella 1 between September and December 2025, during which it transported about 1.8 million barrels of Iran-origin oil to Asia. Authorities alleged the tanker concealed its activities by switching off its Automatic Identification System and masking its identity during ship-to-ship transfers.

In December 2025, the vessel ignored Coast Guard orders and fled across the Atlantic before being seized on Jan 7. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug 7. He faces up to five years in prison and deportation after serving any sentence.