JAKARTA - Iran seized the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker while crossing the Strait of Hormuz. This became the first interception in months on the strategic waterway.
Iran did not immediately admit the seizure, although it did as Tehran further warned it could retaliate after facing a 12-day war in June with Israel which resulted in the US attacking Iran's nuclear site.
The Talara ship was on its way from Ajman, United Arab Emirates, to Singapore when Iranian forces intercepted it, US defense officials said.
The US Navy MQ-4C drone has been circling over the area where Talara was for hours on Friday, November 15, to observe the seizure, according to flight tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press.
A private security company, Ambrey, described the attack involving three small vessels approaching Talara.
Britain's Maritime Trade Operations Center belonging to the British military separately acknowledged the incident, saying it was likely "state activity" forced Talara to turn into Iran's territorial waters.
Cyprus-based Columbia Shipmanagement said it was "losing contact" with the tanker, which was carrying a high sulfur-grade gasoil.
The company has "notified the relevant authorities and is working closely with all relevant parties including maritime security agencies and ship owners to restore contact with the ship," the company said. "The crew safety remains our top priority."
The Navy blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on ships that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone strike against an oil tanker linked to Israel that killed two European crew members in 2021.
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The attacks began after US President Donald Trump, in his first term, unilaterally withdrew from Iran's 2015 nuclear agreement with superpowers.
The last major seizure occurred when Iran seized two Greek tankers in May 2022 and detained them until November of that year.
The attacks were later suppressed by an Iranian-backed Houthi attack targeting ships during the Israeli-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, which drastically reduced shipments in the crucial Red Sea corridor.
The years of tension between Iran and the West, coupled with the situation in the Gaza Strip, exploded into a war of a full scale of 12 days in June.
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