Iran announced yesterday that it had seized a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker as it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz, saying it was a “violation,” in the second oil vessel the Islamic Republic seized in less than a week. Iranian navies detained an oil tanker heading for the United States flying the flag of the Marshall Islands in the Gulf of Oman six days ago, according to Tehran, after it collided with an Iranian ship. Security guards hijacked the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker Niofi as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
For its part, the official Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that “the naval forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have seized a foreign oil tanker in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” without citing the source.
The ship left Dubai and crossed the Persian Gulf in the direction of the port of Fujairah in the Emirates when it was attacked in the middle of the strait by dozens of speedboats belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a statement by the US Navy. .
The statement added: “The Iranian Revolutionary Guards forced the oil tanker to turn around and head for Iranian territorial waters off the Iranian coast of Bandar Abbas.”
In recent years, Washington and Tehran have exchanged accusations over a number of incidents in Persian Gulf waters, including mysterious ship attacks, a drone downing and the hijacking of oil tankers.
