Iran says seized tanker in Gulf of Oman, as US ‘disables’ two ships
Latest claims come hours after US and Iran exchanged fire in Strait of Hormuz, threatening ongoing push for ceasefire.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims to have captured an oil tanker in a “special operation” in the Gulf of Oman, as the United States military says it disabled two tankers seeking to enter Iranian ports.
The statements on Friday came just hours after the US and Iran traded fire in the Strait of Hormuz, threatening a fragile pause in fighting and ongoing efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire deal.
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In a statement carried by the Fars news agency on Friday, a spokesperson said Iran’s navy had seized the Ocean Koi because it had attempted to “disrupt oil exports and the interests of the Iranian nation”.
State-owned Press TV released a video of Iranian forces boarding and detaining the ship. According to MarineTraffic, the vessel is registered in Barbados.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) separately said the military had disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers as they attempted to access Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman.
“US forces in the Middle East remain committed to full enforcement of the blockade of vessels entering or leaving Iran,” CENTCOM commander Admiral Bradley Cooper said in a statement.
Hours earlier, the US and Iran traded fire in the Strait of Hormuz, in one of the largest threats yet to the ongoing pause in fighting.
US President Donald Trump said that Iran had attacked three US Navy destroyers in the strait.
Iran’s top joint military command, meanwhile, accused the US of violating the ceasefire by targeting an Iranian oil tanker and another ship. It said 10 sailors were wounded in the strike, and five more were missing.
The command also said the US carried out air attacks on civilian areas on Qeshm Island, a strategic point at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz and had responded by striking US military vessels east of the strait and south of the port of Chabahar.
Trump has since downplayed the exchange as a “love tap”, denying it constituted a breach of the current pause in fighting. On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration was still expecting a response from Iran on its latest proposal for a more lasting end to the war.
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance met with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Washington, DC, on Friday, according to Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The pair discussed the Pakistan-led mediation efforts to de-escalate the conflict, the ministry said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, meanwhile, said on Friday Tehran was still reviewing the proposal and considering a response, according to remarks carried by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
He also condemned the latest attacks, saying Iran’s forces are closely monitoring the situation and fully ready to respond to any “aggression and adventurism”.
‘New maritime regime’
Al Jazeera’s Resul Serder, reporting from Tehran, said Friday was not the first time the IRGC has seized ships, referring to three previously confirmed cases in the Strait of Hormuz.
However, he explained that it marks a shift in Iran’s strategy.
“Iranians are seeing that the war has changed the strategic environment in the region, and these straits and the Gulf have been used against our national security,” Serder said.
He said Iran is coming up with a “new maritime regime”, which will see the country place “new rules, new regulations and new protocols”.
The new body will be called the “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” and will manage passages through the Strait of Hormuz.
“So, according to the new regulations that were just released, any ships attempting or intending to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in and out need to have full coordination and clearance from the Iranian forces,” Serder said.
Ships intending to pass through the waterway – through which a fifth of the world’s oil normally passes – will have to send an email to Iranian authorities detailing their country of origin, what the vessel is carrying, and the final destination. Iran will then assess and ask them to pay toll fees.
“This is a new maritime regime. Iran is not giving up its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
He said this bold move is symbolic because it shows that “Iranians are putting in control over these strategic chokepoints – without their approval, no ships are allowed in and out”.
‘Political clout’
Alex Alfirraz Scheers, a defence analyst, told Al Jazeera that by capturing the ship in the Gulf of Oman, the IRGC is “exerting its ability and its authority within the Strait – it’s trying to project power, which it can now do, which it couldn’t do prior”.
He explained that the IRGC is using “control of the strait” to make the waterway “inhospitable and dangerous”, saying that this is enough to show that it has “strategic clout” and “political clout”.
Scheers linked this to the shaky negotiations, saying that if the US is unwilling to compromise on the terms of a potential deal, then this is the kind of thing the “IRGC would do to tip the balance of things in their favour”.
