Tehran, Iran — Iran seized a international oil tanker because it traveled the strategic Strait of Hormuz, state media mentioned Friday.
Mojtaba Ghahramani, a provincial chief of the justice division, mentioned the oil tanker was carrying some 4 million liters (25,000 barrels) of smuggled gas when the Revolutionary Guard naval forces seized the vessel, the official IRNA information company reported.
Ghahramani mentioned the forces additionally detained 16 international crew members of the tanker, including that the seizure was a outstanding “blow ” to smugglers. He did not disclose the nationality of the crew or the flag of the tanker.
Iran often seizes oil-carrying vessels over comparable fees within the area. In November, Iran seized a ship because it traveled via the slender Strait of Hormuz over what it mentioned have been violations, together with carrying an unlawful consignment.
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The West has blamed Iran for a sequence of limpet mine assaults on vessels that broken tankers in 2019, in addition to for a drone assault on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021. These assaults started after President Trump, in his first time period in workplace, unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear cope with world powers.
Iran additionally seized the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship MSC Aries in April 2024.
Following years of tensions between Iran and the West, coupled with the scenario within the Gaza Strip, Iran noticed a full-scale 12-day conflict in June with Israel, whose strikes led to the deaths of senior navy commanders and nuclear scientists. Iran’s retaliatory missile barrage killed 28 in Israel.
Tehran has lengthy threatened to shut off the Strait of Hormuz, the slender mouth of the Persian Gulf via which 20% of all traded oil passes. The U.S. Navy has lengthy patrolled the Mideast via its Bahrain-based fifth Fleet to maintain the waterways open.
