The US military said on Tuesday it had seized an Iran-linked tanker in international waters, in what appears to be the latest move to enforce a blockade as the ceasefire deadline looms.
The US military said it had boarded the tanker Tifani “without incident.”
The ship, capable of carrying 2 million barrels of crude, last reported its position on Tuesday morning near Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, according to MarineTraffic tracking data. It was close to fully loaded and had signaled Singapore as its destination.
“Overnight, US forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding of the stateless sanctioned M/T Tifani without incident in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility,” the Pentagon said in a post on X.
“As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran—anywhere they operate.”
The statement underscored that international waters were not a refuge for sanctioned vessel.
There was no immediate comment from Iran on the boarding, but the move could complicate efforts to arrange peace talks as Iran has said the blockade of its ports amounts to a US violation of a two-week truce that is set to expire, and that it will not negotiate while the blockade is being enforced.
