Iran says it has seized another tanker
BEIRUT — Iran seized a foreign oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, state television reported Sunday, the third time Tehran has reported detaining a tanker in the past month as the United States applies its campaign of “maximum pressure,” sanctions and diplomatic isolation against the country.
The Revolutionary Guard detained the tanker on Wednesday, along with the seven members of the ship’s foreign crew, according to official Iranian news agencies, which cited a naval commander. Iran said the tanker was “smuggling” fuel to some Arab states, without offering evidence.
The oil tanker was an Iraqi ship, the official IRNA news agency reported, quoting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
The Trump administration has tried to force Iran into submission by choking off its oil sales, the cornerstone of the country’s economy. Iran has responded by lashing out at the West through provocations small and large — including the recent tanker seizures — raising fears that any miscalculation and tit-for-tat responses would escalate into war.
The latest foreign vessel Iran said it had seized received fuel from other ships and had been transporting it to Arab countries in the Persian Gulf, the commander of Iran’s 2nd Marine Corps said to Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency. The commander said the ship had been carrying about 700,000 liters of fuel, about 185,000 U.S. standard gallons.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry denied any relationship with the tanker detained by Iran, said Asim Jihad, the ministry’s spokesman. Iraq and Iran are allies, raising questions among some in Iraqi intelligence about whether the seizure might have been a mistake.
A Revolutionary Guard statement said the ship had been seized to the south of the Iranian island of Larak, in the northern part of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that is a vital conduit for maritime petroleum traffic in and out of the Persian Gulf.
The oil tanker was then transferred to Bushehr province and its cargo delivered to the department of the National Iranian Oil Product Distribution Co. in the same province, the news agency Mehr reported.