IRGC says tanker seized near Iran’s waters based on judicial order

The latest vessel confiscation comes as regional tensions remain high, months after the June war with Israel and the US.

Tehran, Iran – The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has confirmed Western intelligence reports that it intercepted a Cyprus-registered tanker that transited through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Marhsall Islands-flagged Talara was confiscated on Friday morning while carrying 30,000 tonnes of petrochemicals, Iran’s powerful military and political organisation said in a statement carried by state media.

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“This operation was carried out successfully in accordance with legal duties and for the purpose of safeguarding the national interests and resources of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and under the orders of judicial authorities,” the IRGC said, alleging that the vessel committed a “violation for transporting unauthorised cargo”.

Unnamed officials with the administration of United States President Donald Trump told media outlets that the IRGC took over the vessel as several Western intelligence agencies confirmed the report.

Talara, operated by Cyprus-based Columbia Shipmanagement, had departed a port in the United Arab Emirates for Singapore.

The company said it lost contact with the vessel, adding it is working with maritime security agencies and the vessel owner as it prioritises crew safety. It said the cargo was high-sulfur gas oil, which is, among other things, used as fuel for marine vessels.

British security agencies also said they were tracking the incident.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) identified the location of the incident at 20 nautical miles (equivalent to 37km) east of the Emirati city of Khor Fakkan, and said “state activity” was behind it.

Security agency Ambrey said three small boats approached Talara as it was heading south through the Strait of Hormuz, with the ship later deviating from its route in the Gulf of Oman to steer towards Iran.

Flight-tracking data analysed by The Associated Press on Friday showed a US Navy MQ-4C Triton drone loitering for hours over the area during the seizure.

US Central Command, which oversees Washington’s military deployment in the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of South Asia, said in a statement on Friday that it was “aware of the incident” involving Talara and was “actively monitoring the situation”.

“Commercial vessels are entitled to largely unimpeded rights of navigation and commerce on the high seas,” it said, without assigning blame.

This is the first such interdiction by Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz in more than a year.

In July 2024, the IRGC seized a Togo-flagged, UAE-managed products tanker some 61 nautical miles (113km) southwest of Iran’s port of Bushehr in an operation it said was carried out based on a judicial order to intercept the vessel “systematically engaged in fuel smuggling”.

IRGC commandos in April 2024 rappelled down from a helicopter onto the deck of a Portuguese-flagged containership linked with an Israeli billionaire. That incident came shortly after Israel bombed Iran’s consulate in Syria, killing seven IRGC members, including two top generals.

Another Israeli-linked container ship was attacked and damaged by a drone in the Indian Ocean in November 2023, an attack the US blamed on Iran. The US, UK and Israel said Iran was responsible for a drone attack off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea that killed two European crew members in 2021.

In May 2022, Iran took two Greek tankers and held them until November that year to secure the release of an Iranian-flagged tanker seized in Greece as a result of US sanctions.

Washington also accused Iran of orchestrating a string of attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz in 2019, including using limpet mines, which led to increased maritime insurance costs and forced reroutes for some vessels.

The strategic waterway is where about 20 percent of the global oil trade and roughly one-third of global liquefied natural gas is exported through. Tehran has long threatened to shut it off in reaction to rising external pressure.

All the maritime incidents occurred after Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and imposed stringent sanctions that have only expanded since.

The US also assassinated Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani during the tenure of the first Trump administration in 2020, and, together with Israel, bombed Iran’s top nuclear facilities during a 12-day war in June.

The seizure of Talara on Friday came as Iran’s authorities opened an exhibition in Tehran to display a variety of missiles, drones and other military capabilities.

The IRGC has been ramping up its efforts to produce more ballistic missiles and replace air defences destroyed during the war that also killed dozens of Iran’s top military commanders and nuclear scientists, among more than 1,000 people.