This marks the second such incident in the waterway in a week. The US Fifth Fleet and Iranian media both confirmed the seizure by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ naval force on Wednesday. The tanker was identified as the Panama-flagged Niovi, and it was forced to reverse course into Iranian territorial waters. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency stated that the vessel was, indeed, seized by the IRGC, but did not provide any further information.
While a few days earlier, the naval force of the Iranian army had seized another oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. The US Fifth Fleet classified the seizure of the Turkish-operated and Chinese-owned tanker named Advantage Sweet as a violation of international law and a “threat to maritime security and global economy”. Iran claimed that the tanker had collided with an Iranian vessel, and subsequently fled the scene despite repeated warnings.
Western media reports suggest that both seizures were caused by the confiscation of an oil tanker by the US. This was seen as a move to enforce its unilateral sanctions on Iran. The ongoing tension between Iran and US has resulted in several back-and-forth actions in recent years. The US had attempted to confiscate Iranian oil near Greece last year, leading to Iran’s seizure of two Greek tankers and holding them for months.
The US has imposed its harshest-ever sanctions on Iran since 2018, when it unilaterally abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers aimed at putting curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. The latest seizure of the tanker comes as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi makes a two-day trip to Damascus and meets Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, always with the goal of strengthening ties between the two countries.
This has led Iran to hail it as a “strategic victory” in the region amid US political failures. The ongoing strife has led to a yearning for peace among the international community, and it is hoped that both countries can resolve their conflict in a peaceful and diplomatic manner.
