WASHINGTON: In the latest such incident in the commercially vital seaway, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, according to the US Navy.
The vessel was seized near the Strait of Hormuz and the waters are a chokepoint for at least a third of the global seaborne oil. The “Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Advantage Sweet was seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy while transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman,” the Bahrain-based United States Fifth Fleet in a statement said.
“The Iranian government should immediately release the oil tanker,” it said further, slamming Iran’s “continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters.” Iran’s army, however, said it seized the oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman after it collided with an Iranian boat and added it also injured several crewmen, reported the Iranian state media.
“A Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker was seized by Iranian army’s naval force in the Arabian Gulf after it collided with an Iranian boat in the Gulf of Oman and tried to flee,” said the army statement.
“Two members of the boat’s crew are missing and several were injured due the collision of the ship with the boat.” The United States Navy did not specify the owner of the vessel or its destination.
Iran and the US have traded barbs in recent years over a spate of incidents in the sensitive waters of the Gulf.
The Thursday’s seizure is just the latest incident in the Strait of Hormuz where ships have been mysteriously attacked, drones hit and oil tankers seized.
“In the past two years, Iran has unlawfully seized at least five commercial vessels sailing in the Middle East,” said the US Navy. In July 2019, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero in the same waterway for allegedly ramming a fishing boat, and released it two months later.
Tensions have escalated since 2018 when then US president Trump withdrew the US from a multinational accord that froze Iran’s nuclear programme, and reimposed crippling sanctions on its economy.
