SEOUL (AP) – Armed Iranian troops of the revolutionary guard storm a South Korean tanker and force the ship to change course and travel to Iran, the owner of the vessel said on Tuesday.
The military raid on Monday on the MT Hankuk Chemi was in violation of Iranian statements that they stopped the vessel because they polluted the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, the Islamic Republic appeared to want to increase its leverage over Seoul ahead of the billion-dollar negotiations on Iranian assets frozen in South Korean banks amid a US-led Iranian pressure campaign.
Iran also began enriching uranium to 20% on Monday, a small technical step away from 90% weapon grade levels, at its underground Fordo plant. The move appears to be putting pressure on the US in the last days of President Donald Trump’s administration, which unilaterally withdrew from Tehran’s nuclear power deal with world powers, and ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who said that he is willing to re-enter the agreement.
An official of DM Shipping Co. Ltd. of Busan, South Korea, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, provided details about the seizure of Hankuk Chemi. The vessel was traveling from Jubail, Saudi Arabia, to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates when Iranian troops reached the ship and said they would board.
Initially, Iranian troops said they wanted to carry out an unspecified check on the ship, the official said. While the captain of the vessel was talking to security officials of the company in South Korea, Iranian armed forces stormed the tanker while an Iranian helicopter was flying overhead, the official said. The troops demanded that the captain sail the tanker after an unspecified investigation into the Iranian waters and refused to explain themselves, the official added.
The official has not been able to reach the captain since, the official said. Security cameras installed on the ship, which originally transmitted footage on the deck to the company, have now been turned off, the official said.
After the company lost contact with the captain, the company received a warning notice against piracy indicating that the captain had activated a warning system on board, the official said. It remains unclear whether the ship is trying to seek outside help.
The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, based in the Middle East, regularly patrols the area along with an American-led coalition that monitors the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world’s oil passes . There is also a separate effort led by Europe.
The official denied that the vessel polluted the waters.
In recent months, Iran has sought to increase pressure on South Korea to unlock some $ 7 billion of frozen assets from oil sales earned before the Trump administration tightened sanctions against the country’s oil exports.
The head of Iran’s central bank recently announced that the country wants to use funds in a South Korean bank to buy coronavirus vaccines through COVAX, an international program designed to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to participating countries. spread.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry has demanded the release of the ship and said in a statement that the crew is safe. According to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, sailors included sailors from Indonesia, Myanmar, South Korea and Vietnam. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it was sending its anti-piracy unit to the Strait of Hormuz – a 4400-ton destroyer with about 300 troops.
The US State Department called for the tank’s immediate release and accused Iran of threatening ‘sailing rights and freedoms’ in the Persian Gulf to ‘press the international community to ease the pressure of sanctions’.
Last year, Iran similarly seized a British flag oil tanker and detained it for months after one of its tankers was kept away from Gibraltar.
The latest incidents coincide with the commemoration of the US drone strike that Genl. Qassem killed Soleimani in Baghdad in January last year. Iran responded by launching ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq and injuring dozens of US troops. Tehran also accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane that evening, killing all 176 people on board.
As the commemoration approached and fears of possible Iranian retaliation increased, the US sent B-52 bombers across the region and ordered a submarine with nuclear power in the Persian Gulf.
Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said late Sunday that he had changed his mind about sending the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz home from the Middle East and instead keeping the vessel on duty. He cited Iranian threats against Trump and other U.S. government officials as the reason for the redeployment, without expanding.
Last week, sailors discovered a limpet mine that was stuck in a tanker in the Persian Gulf outside Iraq, near the Iranian border, as it was ready to transfer fuel to another tanker owned by a company that traded on the New York Stock Exchange. No one has claimed responsibility for the location of the mine, though it comes after similar attacks in 2019 near the Strait of Hormuz blaming the U.S. Navy Iran. Tehran denies involvement.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre in Dubai; Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel; and Robert Burns and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.