A ship was reported seized off the coast of the UAE and was heading for Iranian waters yesterday, a British navy agency said.
Iran has largely shut the Strait of Hormuz to ships apart from its own since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28, causing the biggest ever disruption to global energy supplies.
In the latest incidents on the trade route, an Indian cargo vessel carrying livestock from Africa to the UAE was sunk in waters off the coast of Oman.
India condemned the attack and said all 14 crew members had been rescued by the Omani Coast Guard.
Vanguard, a British maritime security advisory firm, said the vessel was believed to have been hit by a missile or drone which caused an explosion.
Separately, British maritime security agency UKMTO reported yesterday that “unauthorised personnel” had boarded a ship anchored off the coast of the UAE port of Fujairah, and were steering it towards Iran.
“The company security officer reported that the vessel was taken by Iranian personnel while at anchor,” Vanguard said.
Security in that area is particularly sensitive, as Fujairah is the UAE’s sole oil port on the far side of the strait, allowing some exports to reach markets without passing through it.
Iran included that part of the coast on an expanded map it released last week of waters it claimed were under its control.
Still, Iran appears to be making more deals with countries to allow some ships to pass through the strait.
A Japanese tanker crossed on Wednesday after Japan’s prime minister announced that she had requested help from the Iranian president.
A huge Chinese tanker also crossed on Wednesday, and Iran’s Fars news agency reported yesterday that an agreement had been reached to let some Chinese ships pass.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said 30 vessels had crossed the strait since Wednesday evening, still far short of some 140 that typically crossed daily before the war, but a substantial increase if confirmed.
According to shipping analytics firm Kpler, some 10 ships had sailed through the strait in the past 24 hours, only a slight increase from the five to seven ships that have crossed daily in recent weeks.
Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said yesterday the seizure of “US tankers” violating Iranian regulations was being carried out under domestic and international law.
Thousands of Iranians were killed in the US and Israeli airstrikes in the first weeks of the war, and thousands more have been killed in Lebanon since the war reignited fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed group Hizbollah.
Lebanese and Israeli envoys were meeting with US officials in Washington yesterday in efforts to end the hostilities.
There has been little progress in talks on ending the war in Iran since a single round of talks was held in Pakistan last month.
US President Donald Trump said his aims in starting the war were to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme, end its capability to attack its neighbours and make it easier for Iranians to overthrow their government.
A senior US admiral told a Senate committee yesterday that Iran’s ability to threaten its neighbours and US interests in the region had been dramatically reduced.
“Iran has a significantly degraded threat, and they no longer threaten regional partners, or the US, in ways that they were able to do before, across every domain,” Admiral Brad Cooper said.
“They’ve been significantly degraded.”
Washington wants Tehran to hand over the uranium and forgo further enrichment.
Iran is seeking the lifting of sanctions, reparations for war damage and acknowledgment of its control over the strait.
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