The already high tensions in the Persian Gulf have ratcheted up another notch after the Islamic Republic of Iran reportedly seized yet another oil tanker ship, the third such seizure in the past month.
Iranian state-run TV claimed on Sunday that an Iraqi-flagged tanker ship was seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after it was suspected of smuggling fuel to other Arab nations in the gulf.
Tanker seized
The New York Post reported that the seized ship has been taken to an Iranian port, and its seven crew members have been detained. The nationalities of the crew members have not been revealed, nor have any further details of the seizure been divulged thus far.
“The IRGC’s naval forces have seized a foreign oil tanker in the Persian Gulf that was smuggling fuel for some Arab countries,” IRGC commander Ramezan Zirahi said in an appearance on Iran’s state-run TV.
The seizure occurred near the Iranian-owned Farsi Island in the northern part of the Persian Gulf that is the site of an IRGC naval base. The ship was allegedly carrying about 185,000 gallons of fuel.
Iraqi government denies ties
The BBC reported that despite the Iranian claim that the seized tanker was of Iraqi origin, the Iraqi oil ministry denied having any ties to the tanker ship. “The ministry does not export diesel to the international market,” it said in a statement.
While authorities determine to which nation the seized ship actually belongs, two unnamed port officials in Iraq told the BBC that the vessel was most likely privately owned by an Iraqi trader.
It remains to be seen what sort of impact this seizure of a potentially privately-owned ship, even one with an admittedly “small” load of fuel, will have on the already escalating tensions in the region.
Instability on the rise
There can be little doubt that relations with Iran have been strained ever since the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed economic sanctions against Iran. This has been evidenced in recent months by Iranian attacks against tanker ships and tit-for-tat shoot-downs of Iranian and U.S. surveillance drones over the Persian Gulf.
During that time, the United Kingdom seized an Iranian tanker in the Mediterranean Sea near the Strait of Gibraltar that was accused of illegally smuggling oil to Syria. In retaliation for that seizure, Iran took custody of a British-flagged tanker, just days after the country had seized a Panamanian-flagged tanker ship.
These back-and-forth seizures of tanker ships and accusations of smuggling do nothing to improve the situation in the region and only serve to further heighten tensions.
Hopefully, cool and rational heads will prevail and the issues at the core of the currently uneasy state of affairs can be dealt with in a manner that minimizes the chances for conflict and bloodshed, which appears to be where this all could be headed if nothing changes.
286 Responses
I think this is among the most important info for me. And i am glad reading your article. But should remark on some general things, The web site style is ideal, the articles is really great : D. Good job, cheers
You must participate in a contest for probably the greatest blogs on the web. I’ll recommend this web site!
Wonderful paintings! That is the kind of info that are meant to be shared across the net. Shame on the seek engines for no longer positioning this publish upper! Come on over and seek advice from my web site . Thanks =)
Wonderful website. A lot of useful info here. Im sending it to a few friends ans also sharing in delicious. And of course, thanks for your sweat!
Definitely, what a great site and enlightening posts, I surely will bookmark your site.All the Best!
very good submit, i definitely love this web site, keep on it
I am always browsing online for ideas that can aid me. Thank you!
Usually I don’t learn article on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very compelled me to take a look at and do so! Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thank you, quite great article.
Thanks a lot for sharing this with all folks you really understand what you’re talking approximately! Bookmarked. Please additionally seek advice from my website =). We may have a hyperlink alternate contract among us!
Good I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your web site. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs and related info ended up being truly easy to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it at all. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, site theme . a tones way for your client to communicate. Excellent task..
Hey very cool blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your blog and take the feeds alsoI’m happy to find a lot of useful information here in the post, we need develop more techniques in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
We stumbled over here different page and thought I might check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to looking over your web page yet again.
Great site you have here.. It’s hard to find high-quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! Take care!!
Hi, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, amazing blog!
I think other website proprietors should take this web site as an model, very clean and excellent user friendly style and design, as well as the content. You’re an expert in this topic!
you are really a good webmaster. The web site loading velocity is amazing. It seems that you are doing any unique trick. Furthermore, The contents are masterpiece. you’ve done a magnificent job on this topic!
Does your site have a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but, I’d like to send you an e-mail. I’ve got some suggestions for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it improve over time.
Hey! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new apple iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the fantastic work!
I’ve been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this web site. Thanks , Ill try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your site?
magnificent issues altogether, you just received a new reader. What would you suggest about your publish that you made some days ago? Any certain?
This website can be a stroll-by way of for all of the data you wanted about this and didnt know who to ask. Glimpse right here, and also youll definitely uncover it.
I do accept as true with all the concepts you have presented in your post. They’re very convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are very brief for novices. May you please prolong them a little from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.
Great work! That is the kind of information that are meant to be shared around the internet. Shame on Google for no longer positioning this submit higher! Come on over and seek advice from my site . Thanks =)
Wow, fantastic blog layout! How lengthy have you been running a blog for? you made blogging glance easy. The entire glance of your site is magnificent, let alone the content!
Hello my family member! I want to say that this article is awesome, nice written and include approximately all significant infos. Id like to peer extra posts like this .
คาสิโน
I delight in, cause I found exactly what I was having a look for. You’ve ended my four day lengthy hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye
It is the best time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you few interesting things or tips. Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read more things about it!
An attention-grabbing dialogue is value comment. I think that you should write more on this matter, it might not be a taboo subject but generally individuals are not enough to talk on such topics. To the next. Cheers
Fantastic web site. Plenty of useful info here. I am sending it to several friends ans additionally sharing in delicious. And of course, thanks on your effort!
I am really inspired along with your writing skills as well as with the format to your blog. Is this a paid topic or did you customize it yourself? Either way stay up the excellent high quality writing, it is uncommon to peer a great weblog like this one nowadays..
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service? Thanks!
I have not checked in here for a while since I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess Ill add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
hello there and thank you for your information Ive certainly picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise some technical points using this web site, as I experienced to reload the web site a lot of times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK? Not that I am complaining, but slow loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and could damage your high-quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my email and can look out for much more of your respective fascinating content. Ensure that you update this again very soon..
I have recently started a site, the info you offer on this website has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work.
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such magnificent info being shared freely out there.
I’m not sure exactly why but this weblog is loading incredibly slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a issue on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
You should take part in a contest for among the best blogs on the web. I’ll advocate this website!
Hello there, I found your site by means of Google while looking for a similar subject, your site came up, it appears to be like good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Ive been exploring for a bit for any high quality articles or blog posts on this kind of space . Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this website. Reading this info So im happy to convey that I have an incredibly excellent uncanny feeling I came upon exactly what I needed. I so much surely will make sure to dont omit this website and give it a glance regularly.