The provocative move at a time of heightened tensions appears to follow through on threats of retaliation Iran made for Britain’s seizing its oil tanker earlier this month.
IRAN CLAIMS IT HAS seized a British oil tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, weeks after it pledged retaliation for the U.K. detaining an Iranian vessel near Gibraltar that was reportedly violating international sanctions.
The elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps navy said Friday it stopped the tanker, the Stena Impero, “for violating maritime rules and regulations in the Persian Gulf.”
Iranian forces escorted the ship to their coastal waters and detained it, state media reported, offering few other details.
The Stena Impero had been on a course through the strait, according to MarineTraffic.com which tracks commercial vessels, when it abruptly changed course and headed toward Iran’s Larak Island. Friday’s incident appears to have taken place in one of the narrowest points at the chokepoint of international trade.
Shortly afterward, reports emerged that Iran has seized another vessel, the Liberia-flagged Mesdar. MarineTraffic showed that vessel also made an abrupt turn toward Iranian waters shortly after clearing the narrowest point of the strait.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Friday he is “extremely concerned by the seizure of the two naval vessels by Iranian authorities in the Strait of Hormuz.”