Iran seizes second oil tanker in a week amid US confrontation
The US Navy says several Iranian ships approached the tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and forced it into Iranian waters.
Tehran, Iran Iran has seized an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz in what is the region’s second incident in a week as tensions with the United States continue.
The Middle East-based US 5th Fleet and Iranian media confirmed Wednesday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval force stopped a tanker in the busy waterway.
A video released by the 5th Fleet appeared to show about a dozen fast-attacking IRGC ships approaching a tanker identified as the Panamanian-flagged Niovi. The US said the tanker was forced to change course in Iranian territorial waters during the “unlawful seizure”.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA confirmed that the ship had been seized by the IRGC, but did not add further details.
The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported that Tehran’s prosecutor has said the seizure was the result of a court order, following a complaint from a plaintiff.
The IRGC did not immediately confirm the ship’s name or why it was stopped.
A few days earlier, Iran’s naval forces seized another oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman last Thursday in what the 5th Fleet called a violation of international law and a “threat to maritime security and the global economy.”
However, Iran said the Turkish-operated Chinese tanker Advantage Sweet, bound for Houston, Texas and carrying Kuwaiti crude for US energy company Chevron Corp, collided with an Iranian ship, leaving several crew members missing and injured.
Iran had also said that the Advantage Sweet, which had about two dozen Indian crew members, had passed through the Strait of Hormuz and fled the scene despite repeated warnings.
However, Western media reported that the ship’s seizure was in response to the US confiscation of an oil tanker days earlier in an effort to enforce unilateral sanctions against Tehran.
Tehran and Washington have engaged in such tit-for-tat moves before, with the US attempting to seize a shipment of Iranian oil near Greece last year, prompting Iran to seize two Greek tankers and destroy them. hold for months. The Supreme Court in Greece eventually ordered the cargo returned to Iran and the Greek ships were also released.
The US has imposed its toughest sanctions on Iran since 2018, when it unilaterally reneged on a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that restricted Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting the sanctions.
The seizure on Wednesday came as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Damascus on a two-day trip and met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in what Tehran called a “strategic victory” in the region amid US political failures.