New footage aired by Iran’s state television on Friday revealed Iranian navy commandos boarding a U.S.-bound oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman.
The U.S. Navy confirmed that Iran seized the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel, Advantage Sweet, in international waters within the Gulf of Oman last Thursday. This incident marks the latest in a series of seizures and attacks by Iranian forces on commercial vessels navigating the sensitive Gulf waters.
The capture of the Advantage Sweet followed the U.S. confiscation of Iranian oil cargo aboard a separate tanker just days prior, according to sources.
Iran’s military claimed that the Advantage Sweet had collided with an Iranian boat, causing injuries to several crew members.
The Advantage Sweet, a Suezmax crude tanker, had been chartered by oil giant Chevron. AIS data from MarineTraffic.com indicated that the vessel was en route from Kuwait to Houston, Texas, at the time of the seizure.
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Two India-bound vessels laden with cooking fuel from the Persian Gulf appear to have transited the Strait of Hormuz, making them the latest to exit despite continued restrictions from the US and Iran.
Both Iraq and Pakistan have cut deals with Iran to ship oil and liquefied natural gas from the Gulf, according to five sources with knowledge of the matter, in a demonstration of Tehran's ability to control energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
As long as the Strait of Hormuz remains unsettled, the US Navy faces millions of dollars in extra costs each time it sends a destroyer through the waterway, and such passages on their own are unlikely to reopen it.
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