Iran Tried to Seize Two Oil Tankers Near Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Navy Says

Wall Street Journal

Iranian naval vessels backed off after Navy dispatched a guided-missile destroyer to the scene

By :Benoit Faucon

Updated July 5, 2023

Iran attempted to seize two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz and fired shots at one of them, the U.S. Navy said, the latest in a series of attacks on tankers in the strategic waterway.

In both incidents, which occurred in international waters, the Iranian naval vessels left after the U.S. Navy dispatched a guided-missile destroyer to the scene, according to the U.S.’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, which helps patrol the area. Both the commercial vessels continued their voyages, the U.S. Navy said.

“We remain vigilant and ready to protect navigational rights in these critical waters,” said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces in the Middle East, who praised the USS McFaul crew for immediately responding and preventing another seizure.

A spokesman for the Iranian delegation at the United Nations didn’t return a request for comment.

Amid growing concerns about security in the Persian Gulf, where more than a third of the world’s seaborne crude-oil transits, the U.S. Navy said it increased in May the rotation of ships and aircraft patrolling the Strait of Hormuz with partners. Iran has harassed, attacked or seized nearly 20 internationally flagged merchant vessels since 2021, it noted.

The United Arab Emirates, a key U.S. partner in the Middle East, pressed Washington to make more muscular moves to deter Iran after the Islamic Republic’s military seized two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman in recent months, U.S. and Gulf officials told The Wall Street Journal in May.

U.S. officials said the Emiratis were frustrated by the lack of an American response to Iran’s seizure of tankers on April 27 and May 3. One tanker was carrying a shipment of Kuwaiti crude oil to Houston for Chevron, while the second was transiting from the Emirati port cities of Dubai to Fujairah.

U.S. officials said at the time that they understood Emirati concerns and have been working with Gulf partners to deter Iran from targeting commercial ships in the region. The U.S. Navy has created a special task force that uses sailing surveillance drones to expand its ability to respond to threats.

Besides dispatching the guided-missile destroyer on Wednesday, the U.S. Navy said it also deployed surveillance aircraft, including MQ-9 Reaper and P-8 Poseidon maritime patrols, as an Iranian naval vessel approached the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker TRF Moss in the Gulf of Oman.

A few hours later, another Iranian naval vessel closed within one mile of the Bahamian-flagged oil tanker Richmond Voyager while the ship was more than 20 miles off the coast of Oman and transiting toward the Arabian Sea. Iranian personnel fired multiple, long bursts from both small arms and crew-served weapons, the U.S. Navy said, adding that several rounds hit the ship’s hull near crew living spaces but the commercial vessel sustained no casualties or significant damage.

The Richmond Voyager was carrying oil from the United Arab Emirates to Singapore and is managed by Chevron Corp., according to shipping databases. A spokeswoman for the U.S. oil company said it “is aware of the situation in the Gulf of Oman involving the Richmond Voyager” and that there was no loss of life, injury or oil spills.