By Florence Tan, Jonathan Saul and Phil Stewart
SINGAPORE, May 13 (Reuters) - The trading arm of Vietnam's state oil company has urged the U.S. Navy to allow a crude oil tanker laden with Iraqi oil to sail through its blockade in the Middle East Gulf to provide a Vietnamese refinery with critical supplies, PVOIL said in a letter on Tuesday.
The U.S. military has expanded its shipping blockade on Iran to include cargoes deemed contraband, although it has said other oil exports from the Gulf are free to sail through.