Iran Seizes Second Foreign Foreign Crude Tanker in Less than a Week

During May 3, 2023, forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized a second foreign tanker in the key choke point in the Strait of Hormuz. 

IRGC fast boats captured a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker that the US Navy’s 5th Fleet identified as the Niovi. 

The US Navy described that the Iranian ships “forced the oil tanker to reverse course and head toward Iranian territorial waters off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran.”

“Iran’s actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability,” the 5th Fleet statement stated. “Iran’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are unwarranted, irresponsible and a present threat to maritime security and the global economy.”

Per tanker records covered in the Associated Press, “Shipping registries show the Niovi as managed by Smart Tankers of Piraeus, Greece.”

“The Niovi had been coming from dry-dock repairs in Dubai, bound for Fujairah on the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates without carrying any cargo, according to the data firm Refinitiv,” the report noted.

Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge noted that there has been an ongoing tanker conflict in the last few years between Iran and the US. 

Such tensions are part and parcel of the broader American-Iranian proxy conflict that has transpired since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. This conflict is not ending anytime soon thanks to the Zionist influence in US foreign policy and the universalist nature of US foreign policy decision-makers.

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