Iran claims seized tanker was involved in maritime hit-and-run

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency says it seized a ship flying the Marshall Islands flag after “an unknown ship collided with an Iranian vessel last night in the Persian Gulf, causing several Iranian crew members to go missing and get injured.”

It claims the ship left the scene and tried to “run away,” but Iran’s navy chased it down and “directed it to Iranian waters.”

The US Navy, which first reported on the seizure, initially said Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard captured the vessel, but an American naval aircraft later confirmed that Iran’s navy captured the ship, 5th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins says.

The 5th Fleet says the Iranian seizure was at least the fifth commercial vessel taken by Tehran in the last two years.

“Iran’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy,” it adds.

The manager of the Advantage Sweet, a Turkish firm, did not respond to requests for comment. Its listed owner appeared to be a Chinese company.

The Advantage Sweet had been in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, but its track showed no usual behavior as it transited through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. Iran has made allegations in other seizures that later fell apart as it became clear Tehran was trying to leverage the capture as a chip to negotiate with foreign nations.

Iran’s “harassing activity within the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman is commensurate with an established pattern of behavior that has seen Iran target vessels as a result of ongoing disputes,” maritime security firm Dryad Global says.