US rejects Iranian tanker seizure claim

A still from the video shows the proximity of a USS destroyer to the tanker Sothys and IRGC vessels that include the high-speed catamaran Shahid Nazeri. (Islamic Revolution Guards Corps)

The United States immediately rejected a claim by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) that it had captured a tanker carrying oil stolen by the US Navy.

Citing the IRGC, the Iranian media reported on 3 November that the US Navy had hijacked a tanker carrying Iranian oil, then transferred its cargo to another tanker. The IRGC immediately responded by boarding the second tanker, which was sailed to Bandar Abbas on 25 October after the US Navy failed to block it.

A video of the operation was released showing a helicopter dropping Iranian commandos on to a tanker named Sothys . IRGC vessels were then seen sailing between the tanker and two US Navy destroyers – USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) and USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) – while a Seahawk helicopter flew overhead. A US Coast Guard Sentinel-class cutter was also seen in the footage, although it was unclear how close it was to the tanker.

There was no evidence to support the IRGC's claim that Sothys was carrying oil that was transferred from another tanker seized by the US Navy.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the Iranian version of the event was “absolutely totally false and untrue”. He said that two US Navy ships and aircraft monitored “Iranian forces illegally boarding and seizing a merchant vessel in international waters in the Gulf of Oman” on 24 October.