Iran continues piracy against foreign vessels - analysis

Iran once again has waylaid a ship and taken it into Iranian waters. The latest incident occurred this week when Iran seized an oil tanker it claimed was seeking to “flee” after being in a collision. Iranian state media have put forward their story, but the context of what looks to be another act of Iranian naval state-sponsored piracy, is that Iran has done this many times before.

It frequently takes ships and uses them as bargaining chips, often using naval commandos to seize the ships. The latest victim is the Advantage Sweet oil tanker.

In this case Iranian state media says it seized an “unknown ship” that collided with an Iranian ship. In Iran’s narrative the tanker was leaving the Persian Gulf and entering the Gulf of Oman when it apparently had a collision. Iran claims that the “unknown vessel violated the international regulations of providing assistance to the boat and the injured, tried to escape from the Persian Gulf, which immediately after the request from the Maritime Reconnaissance and Rescue Center (MRCC), the Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran intercepted, identified and seized the unknown ship in the Sea of ​​Oman.” 

Iran's pretense of legality

Iran puts up a pretense of legality here. It claims that a court order was issued and the “offending ship” was grabbed while it tried to “flee.” Iran says the ship was then directed into the waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran also claims that the ship was flying the flag of the Marshall Islands.

Claire Jungman of UANI posted a tweet online showing the tanker apparently now off the port of Bandar Abbas. Bloomberg news said that the tanker was seized Thursday and was carrying crude oil from Kuwait. It said that it had 24 crew who were from India.  

A distress call was made by the tanker at 1:15 p.m. in the afternoon. USNI News says that the tanker was around 40 miles east of Fujairah off the UAE, meaning it had exited the Straits of Hormuz. “The oil tanker had departed from Kuwait and was headed for Houston, according to trip data… US Central Command issued an initial statement on Thursday placing the blame on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy but later revised its statement placing responsibility on the regular Iranian Navy after a P-8A Poseidon surveilled the tanker,” the report at USNI said.

“Advantage Sweet was seized by the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy while transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman. The oil tanker issued a distress call during the seizure. U.S. 5th Fleet is monitoring the situation,” the US said. “In the past two years, Iran has unlawfully seized at least five commercial vessels sailing in the Middle East.” According to AP the vessels manager, Advantage Tankers in Turkey, has said the safety of the crew is their number one priority.  

“The Iranian government should immediately release the oil tanker,” the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said.

Iran's method for piracy

Iran used a helicopter to seize the tanker, sending men down ropes onto the deck. This is a method Iran has used before. In fact Iran is becoming an expert at using naval units to commit this kind of piracy. If the pretense of the tanker having collided with another vessel was true, then Iran could dispatch the coastguard. Other countries don’t send military helicopters to raid vessels when there are collissions at sea. Iran instead uses a pretext to justify the military piracy intervention in the tanker’s crossing.  

In 2021 Iran seized the South Korean tanker Hankuk Chemi, which was also seized in a similar act of Iranian naval piracy blackmail, in which Iran then held the crew from January to April 2021. The Guardian reported in April 2021 that “Iran has released a South Korean ship that was seized in January after the conclusion of an investigation and at the request of Seoul’s government, the Iranian foreign ministry has said. There was no immediate sign that a parallel three-way agreement had been reached between Seoul, Tehran and Washington to release as much as $7bn (£5.1bn) in Iranian assets that had been frozen in South Korean bank accounts because of US sanctions.” It also grabbed that tanker in the Straits of Hormuz.  

In November 2022 Iran released two Greek tankers it had seized in May of that year. Reuters reported at the time, that “Iran has released two Greek-flagged tankers that it seized in the Gulf in May, the Greek shipping ministry said, ending a months-long diplomatic impasse which has strained relations between Athens and Tehran.” 

In September 2019 Iran released a UK-flagged tanker that had also been grabbed by the IRGC. That tanker, called the Stena Impero, was a Swedish-owned ship according to the Guardian. “The Stena Impero was dramatically seized on 19 July [2019] as it passed through the strait of Hormuz after Iranian officials claimed it had infringed maritime regulations. Footage released by Iran showed Revolutionary Guards descending from a helicopter to take control of the ship.” 

In July 2020 another tanker called the Gulf Sky also was seized by Iran, but in a more complex manner. The ship was moored off the coast of the UAE in the Gulf of Oman when the ship ws allegedly hijacked and taken to Iran. The BBC reported in 2021 that “eight former crew have spoken to the BBC about the ship's disappearance, saying they were hijacked by a group of armed men. All but the captain have asked not to be named, out of fear for their safety and livelihoods.” The ship was also taken to an anchorage off of Bander Abbas.