On July 14, The UAE based oil tanker MT Riah disappeared from ship tracking maps when its transponder was switched off in the Strait of Hormuz, the World’s most strategically important chokepoint, between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Its last position was off the coast of the Iranian island of Qeshm in the strait.
According to U.S. officials, they are unsure whether an oil tanker towed into Iranian waters was seized by Iran or rescued after having a mechanical fault as Tehran claims, creating a mystery in gulf waters amid tensions.
Iran claims that it towed a vessel into its waters from the strait after the ship issued a distress call. Although Iran didn’t reveal the name of the vessel, the Riah is the only ship whose recorded maneuvers are equivalent to that of described by Iran.
U.S. official, commenting on the condition of probability, said it appears like the tanker was in Iranian territorial waters, but it is not obvious that whether Iran had seized it or rescued it.
The mystery appears at a time when the tension between the UK and Iran in Strait of Hormuz is climbing up to the summit, which has been escalating since the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker by officials in Gibraltar, accompanied by British Royal Marines. British Royal Marines in Gibraltar grid around an Iranian ship believed to have been carrying oil to Syria, which is, according to authorities is a violation of European Union sanctions on Syria.
Later, Iranian boats tried to impede a British oil tanker in the region, before being driven off by a Royal Navy ship. Boats were likely to belong to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) that surrounded the British Heritage tanker and tried to halt its motion as it was moving from the Gulf to the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Washington is asking allies to escalate their maritime security in the Gulf region to protect strategic waters off Iran. Whereas, relations between the US and Iran have also been exacerbating since President Donald Trump decided to pull out the US from a nuclear deal with Iran and re-imposed sanctions.
