U.S. tanker approached by Iranian gunboats in Strait of Hormuz, safety agency says

Dubai — British maritime safety agency Vanguard Tech mentioned Tuesday {that a} U.S.-flagged tanker was approached by Iranian gunboats, which threatened to board the vessel, within the Strait of Hormuz, earlier than persevering with on its approach underneath navy escort. The incident comes amid a tense standoff between the U.S. and Iran, and simply days forward of anticipated negotiations.

The Stena Crucial was approached by three pairs of small armed boats belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps whereas transiting the Strait of Hormuz, roughly 16 nautical miles north of Oman’s coast, the corporate mentioned.

The gunboats hailed the tanker by radio, ordering the captain “to cease the engines and put together to be boarded,” however the ship elevated pace and maintained course, the agency added, stressing that it by no means entered Iranian territorial waters.

“The vessel is now being escorted by a U.S. warship,” Vanguard Tech mentioned.

U.S. Central Command issued a press release confirming the incident, saying, “Two IRGC boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached M/V Stena Crucial at excessive speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker.”

CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins mentioned the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul instantly responded to the scene and escorted the ship with defensive air assist from the U.S. Air Pressure. “The state of affairs de-escalated because of this, and the U.S.-flagged tanker is continuing safely,” he mentioned.

The tanker was nonetheless heading in the right direction for its vacation spot in Bahrain on Tuesday afternoon, scheduled to reach on the port Sitrah on Feb. 5, info from the MarineTraffic web site confirmed.

The British maritime safety company UKMTO had reported the incident earlier, with out specifying the nationality of the ship nor of the boats that approached it, saying solely that it had been “hailed on VHF by quite a few small armed vessels,” however ignored the request to cease and “continued on its deliberate route.”

“Authorities are investigating,” UKMTO mentioned in its assertion, warning all vessels within the Strait of Hormuz “to transit with warning and report any suspicious exercise.”  

The Strait of Hormuz is a key passage for international transport of oil and liquefied pure fuel, and it has been the scene of a number of incidents up to now amid pressure between Iran and the West. 

Iran’s Fars information company, which is carefully linked to the Revolutionary Guards, cited unnamed authorities officers on Tuesday as denying the report by Vanguard Tech, claiming a vessel was intercepted after it entered Iran’s territorial waters with out permission.

Monitoring information from MarineTraffic confirmed the Crucial remained inside Oman’s maritime financial zone because it traversed the Strait.

A senior Iranian official from the Revolutionary Guards threatened final week to dam passage of the Strait within the occasion of a U.S. assault, and the Guards additionally held navy workouts over the weekend within the strategic waterway.

President Trump has threatened repeatedly that he might launch a brand new navy strike on Iran over the nation’s brutal suppression of current protests, or if it declines to barter a brand new deal on its nuclear program.  

Talking to CBS News last week, Mr. Trump mentioned “I’ve had” conversations with Iran in the previous couple of days, and “I’m planning” to have extra.

Mr. Trump mentioned that, in these conversations, he “instructed them two issues. No. 1, no nuclear. And No. 2, cease killing protesters. They’re killing them by the hundreds.”

At the very least 10 U.S. warships — together with an plane provider and a minimum of 5 destroyers — had been heading towards Iran’s coastal waters as of final week, a deployment Mr. Trump has referred to as an “armada,” which he mentioned he hopes he does not want to make use of.

U.S. and Iranian officers are anticipated to carry talks on the finish of this week.