Texas-Bound Oil Tanker Seized by Hostile Foreign Navy

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Texas-Bound Oil Tanker Seized by Hostile Foreign Navy
By: Johnathan Jones, Western Journal - April 27, 2023 at 3:37pm
Re: https://ijr.com/texas-bound-oil-tank...-foreign-navy/

An international oil tanker that was bound for Texas was seized by Iranian naval forces on Thursday after the country claimed it had collided with one of its vessels.

The U.S. military announced the seizure in a statement that called for the ship’s immediate release.

The Navy also demanded that Iran cease breaking international laws with such actions, which it said have become somewhat routine in recent years.

“On April 27 at approximately 1:15 p.m. local time, Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Advantage Sweet was seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) while transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman,” a statement from the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command public affairs office said.

“The oil tanker issued a distress call during the seizure. U.S. 5th Fleet is monitoring the situation,” the statement continued.

U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet
@US5thFleet
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NAVCENT statement on Iran's unlawful seizure of a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Oman today:

U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet
@US5thFleet- Follow
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Replying to @US5thFleet:

Initial indicators suggested that the IRGCN conducted the seizure, which is consistent with prior events. However, after sending a P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to monitor the situation, we have since been able to determine the IRIN (Iranian navy) conducted the seizure. ~ 9:30 AM · Apr 27, 2023

Naval Central Command criticized the Iranian military for its continued harassment of shipping vessels in the region.

Since 2021, Iran has seized at least five such vessels, Reuters reported.

“Iran’s actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability,” Naval Central Command said. “The Iranian government should immediately release the oil tanker.”

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

Reuters reported Iran defended its decision to detain the ship and those onboard.

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It is unclear how many people were aboard the tanker.

Iranian forces claimed the ship collided with one of its own and that there were injuries.
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Personal note: I smell another Middle East action will soon be brought about by them
will result in more US troops & ship's going back to the sand piles pretty soon!
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If not one thing - it's another and this is getting pretty old. The tanker had oil
on it heading to the US - that's most likely impounding our supplies and will
get a quick reaction or response - I'm sure!
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Related story: Iran Navy Seizes Marshall Islands Oil Tanker in Gulf of Oman
By: VOA Middle East news
Site: https://www.voanews.com/a/iran-navy-...n/7069068.html

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES —
Iran's navy seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday amid wider tensions over Tehran's nuclear program, the latest-such capture in a waterway crucial for global energy supplies.

The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet identified the vessel as the Advantage Sweet. Satellite tracking data for the vessel from MarineTraffic.com showed it in the Gulf of Oman just north of Oman's capital, Muscat, on Thursday afternoon. It had just come from Kuwait and listed its destination as Houston, Texas.

The Advantage Sweet issued a distress call at 1:15 p.m. local time while in international waters as Iran seized the vessel, the Navy said.

"Iran's actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability," the 5th Fleet said in a statement. "Iran should immediately release the oil tanker."

The Navy initially said Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized the vessel, but an American naval aircraft later confirmed that Iran's navy captured the ship, 5th Fleet spokesman Commander Timothy Hawkins told The Associated Press.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said the seizure came 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 did not identify the other ship involved in the alleged collision.

The Advantage Sweet had been in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, but its track showed no unusual behavior as it transited through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.

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 said.

Fifth vessel taken, says fleet

The 5th Fleet said 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 added.

The vessel's manager, a Turkish firm called Advantage Tankers, issued a statement acknowledging the Advantage Sweet was "being escorted by the Iranian navy to a port on the basis of an international dispute." All the ship's 24 crew members are Indian.

"The safety and welfare of our valued crew members is our No. 1 priority," the firm said. "Similar experiences show that crew members of vessels taken under such circumstances are in no danger."

The ship's listed owner appeared to be a Chinese company.

Vessel carried crude, according to manifest

Manifest information from data firm Refinitiv showed the Advantage Sweet carried Kuwaiti crude oil for American energy firm Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, California. Chevron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thursday's seizure by Iran was the latest in a string of hijackings and explosions to roil the region.

The incidents began after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Also, the U.S. Navy has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021.

Tehran denies carrying out the attacks, but a wider shadow war between Iran and the West has played out in the region's volatile waters. Iranian tanker seizures have been a part of it since 2019. The last major seizure came when Iran took two Greek tankers in May and held them until November.
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Again: A Personal note: These rag heads are at it again - this crap is getting old.
The Middle East oil countries will be knocking off our supplies and I wonder whose
backing them: Russia or ? that's the problem!
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