Iranian forces reportedly capture an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz in the first such attack on shipping in months.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker while traveling through the strait Strait of Hormuz on Friday, a U.S. official and a private maritime risk group said, making the ship in Iranian territorial waters the first ban of its kind in months on the strategic waterway.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge the seizure, although it comes as Tehran has increasingly been warning that it may fight back after facing a 12-day war in June with Israel that saw the US attacks Iranian nuclear sites.

The ship, the Talara, was traveling from Ajman, United Arab Emirates, to Singapore when Iranian forces intercepted it, said the U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

The Reuters news agency cited British private maritime risk management group Vanguard and other maritime security sources as saying that the Talara had been intercepted by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces and headed toward Iranian waters.

A U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton drone had been hovering over the area where the Talara was for hours Friday observing the seizure, flight tracking data analyzed by The News showed.

Another private security company, Ambrey, told the AP that the assault involved three small boats approaching Talara.

The British military’s Maritime Trade Operations center in the United Kingdom separately acknowledged the incident, saying possible “state activity” had forced Talara into Iranian territorial waters.

Cyprus-based Columbia Shipmanagement later said in a statement that it had “lost contact” with the tanker, which was carrying high-sulfur gas oil.

The company “has notified the relevant authorities and is working closely with all relevant parties, including maritime safety agencies and the shipowner, to reestablish contact with the vessel,” the company said. “Crew safety remains our top priority.”

The US Navy blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on ships that damaged oil tankers in 2019, as well as a fatal drone attack on an Israel-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021.

Those attacks began after President Trump, during his first term, unilaterally Withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal. between Iran and several world powers. The last major seizure came when Iran seized two Greek oil tankers in May 2022 and held them until November of that year.

Those attacks were largely subsumed by Iranian-backed forces. Houthi attacks on ships during the drastically reducing shipping in the crucial Red Sea corridor.

Years of tension between Iran and the West, coupled with the situation in the Gaza Strip, exploded in June into a 12-day full-scale war.

Iran has long threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all traded oil passes. The US Navy has patrolled the Middle East through its Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet to keep waterways open.