The United States (US) Navy and the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom have claimed that they rescued a ship being “harassed” by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
According to a statement released by the United States Navy afternoon, three fast-attack Guard vessels with armed troops approached the merchant ship at close range.
HMS Lancaster, a British frigate, and the USS McFaul, a guided-missile destroyer, both reacted to the call for help, with Lancaster releasing a helicopter.
The Navy reported that “the situation deescalated” after an hour had passed and the commercial ship had confirmed that the fast-attack boat had left the area. The commercial vessel continued her passage across the Strait of Hormuz without further mishap.
The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which about 20% of the world’s oil is transported.
There is a long history of tension between US and Iran
Although the Navy did not specify which ship was involved, analysis of ship monitoring data from MarineTraffic.com by the Associated Press revealed that the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Venture made unusual course changes as it passed through the strait.
Its location was also consistent with data provided by UK Maritime Trade Operations, a British military organisation responsible for monitoring trade in the area. The ship looked very much like the pictures the Navy had posted.
Trust Bulkers, the ship’s official manager based in Athens, Greece, did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Revolutionary Guard and official Iranian media were slow to report the tragedy. A request for comment sent to Iran’s UN mission was not immediately returned.
After the United States withdrew unilaterally from the Iran nuclear deal with world powers in 2018, a string of maritime incidents involving Iran ensued.
It is thought that the United States captured the tanker Suez Rajan off the coast of Singapore because it was transporting Iranian crude oil in violation of US sanctions.
The Suez Rajan, according to AP analysis of ship-tracking data, is currently located some distance from the coast of Galveston, Texas. However, authorities have not confirmed the ship’s detention.
Iranian authorities detained the Chinese-owned, Turkish-operated tanker Advantage Sweet at the end of April. The ship was transporting crude oil from Kuwait for the American energy company Chevron. Hours before it was captured, Iran claimed the tanker had been in a collision with an unnamed Iranian vessel.
As it sailed from a dry dock in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Fujairah on the country’s eastern coast in early May, Iran seized the Panamanian-flagged tanker Niovi. S&P Global Market Intelligence data acquired by the AP shows that in July 2020, the Niovi, which was empty at the time, received oil from a vessel called the Oman Pride.
Since the Oman Pride was “involved in an international oil smuggling network” that aided the Quds Force, the expeditionary unit of the Guard that operations across the Middle East, the US Treasury sanctioned the vessel and those affiliated with it in August 2021.
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