A vessel sails the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran on Friday seized the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Talara on Friday morning. File Photo by Ali Haider/EPA-EFE
Nov. 15 (UPI) — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed Saturday that it has seized a fuel tanker bound for Singapore from the United Arab Emirates.
The IRGC Navy said in a statement the Talara was carrying 30,000 tons of petrochemicals and had been monitoring it after a court ordered the ship’s seizure on Friday morning, according to IRNA, Iran’s official government news agency.
The “unauthorized cargo” — high-sulphur gas oil, which is used to fuel ships and other marine vessels — led three small surface vessels to intercept the Talara has it sailed south through the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera and the BBC reported.
“This operation was carried out successfully in accordance with legal duties and for the purpose of safeguarding the national interests and resources of the Islamic Republic of Iran and under the orders of judicial authorities,” the IRGC Navy said.
Talara’s Cyprus-based owner, Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd. operates the tanker, and its cargo and that it has lost contact with the vessel, according to Al Jazeera.
U.S. Central Command officials on Friday said they are aware of the ship’s seizure and are “actively monitoring” the matter, the New York Times reported.
“Commercial vessels are entitled to largely unimpeded rights of navigation,” the Central Command officials added.
Iran has seized other tankers while often accusing them of carrying illicit cargo, intruding in Iranian waters or in retaliation for the seizure of an Iranian vessel.
Iranian officials have threatened to close shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which is a narrow strait extending for 90 miles and connecting the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.
A fourth of the world’s oil and a fifth of its liquefied natural gas are shipped through the waterway.
The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet patrols the area to help protect commercial shipping.