Iran grabs 3rd ship in Gulf
Iran claimed Sunday to have seized another vessel it accused of smuggling fuel in the Persian Gulf — the third ship it has detained in the waterway in recent weeks amid a standoff between the Islamic Republic and the United States.
Iranian forces intercepted the ship Wednesday near Farsi Island, which is used by its Revolutionary Guards as a navy base, the country’s state media reported.
“The IRGC’s naval forces have seized a foreign oil tanker in the Persian Gulf that was smuggling fuel for some Arab countries,” the paramilitary’s forces commander Ramezan Zirahi said, according to state-run media. The Iraqi ship was carrying about 185,000 gallons of fuel, the report said, but it did not provide additional details.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry said it had ties to the seized ship.
The Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said it could not confirm the claim.
Iran seized a Panamanian-flagged United Arab Emirates tanker, the MT Riah, in the Strait of Hormuz last month that it said was trying to smuggle 264,000 gallons of oil from Iran.
The Revolutionary Guard also said it captured the British-flagged Stena Impero last month near the Strait of Hormuz for “violating international regulations.”
Britain said the seizure was in retaliation for its stopping of an Iranian oil tanker in the waters off Gibraltar that it said was smuggling oil to Syria.
Washington and Tehran have been locked in a standoff since President Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions against Iran designed to force it back to the negotiating table.
Iran has been pressuring the remaining countries in the pact — Britain, France, Germany, the European Union, China and Russia — to abide by the terms of the deal and help ease the US sanctions.
Trump in June ordered and then called off a military strike after the US said Iran shot down one of its unmanned surveillance drones.