Iran Navy seizes oil tanker transiting Strait of Hormuz.

According to information published by the US DoD on May 3, 2023, the Panama-flagged oil tanker Niovi was seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
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Oil tanker Niovi with Iranian fast attack craft swarmed. (Picture source: US DoD)

The oil tanker departed Dubai and was transiting from the Arabian Gulf toward the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates when a dozen IRGCN fast-attack craft swarmed the vessel in the middle of the strait. The IRGCN subsequently forced the oil tanker to reverse course and head toward Iranian territorial waters off the coast of Bandar ‘Abbas, Iran.

A previous incident occurred six days ago when the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy seized Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Advantage Sweet while it transited international waters in the Gulf of Oman.

IRGCN

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy is the naval warfare service of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which was founded in 1985 as one of the two maritime forces of Iran, alongside the conventional Islamic Republic of Iran Navy.

The IRGC Navy has steadily improved its capabilities to support unconventional warfare and defend Iran's offshore facilities, coastlines, and islands in the Persian Gulf.