US tanker boarded by Iranian gunboats in Strait of Hormuz, says security company

Dubai — British maritime security company Vanguard Tech said Tuesday that a U.S.-flagged oil tanker was boarded by Iranian gunboats, which threatened to board the ship, in the Strait of Hormuz before continuing on its way under military escort. The incident occurs amid a tense Confrontation between the United States and Iranand just a few days before the expected negotiations.

The Stena Imperative was boarded by three pairs of small armed vessels belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, approximately 16 nautical miles north of the coast of Oman, the company said.

The gunboats called the tanker by radio and ordered the captain “to stop engines and prepare to be boarded,” but the ship increased speed and stayed on course, the company added, stressing that it never entered Iranian territorial waters.

“The vessel is now escorted by a US warship,” Vanguard Tech said.

The U.S.-flagged tanker was still underway toward its destination in Bahrain on Tuesday afternoon, arriving at the port of Sitrah on Feb. 5, according to information on the MarineTraffic website.

The British maritime safety agency UKMTO had previously reported the incident, without specifying the nationality of the ship or the vessels approaching it, stating only that it had been “hailed on VHF by numerous small armed vessels”, but ignored the request to stop and “continued on its planned route”.

“Authorities are investigating,” the UKMTO said in its statement, warning all vessels in the Strait of Hormuz “to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity.”

The Strait of Hormuz is a key passage for the global transport of oil and liquefied natural gas, and has been the scene of several incidents in the past amid tensions between Iran and the West.

Iran’s Fars news agency, which is closely linked to the Revolutionary Guard, on Tuesday cited unnamed government officials denying the Vanguard Tech report, claiming that a ship was intercepted after it entered Iran’s territorial waters without permission.

MarineTraffic tracking data showed that the Imperative remained within Oman’s maritime economic zone while passing through the Strait.

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard official threatened last week to block the Strait passage in the event of a US attack, and the Guard also held military exercises over the weekend in the strategic waterway.

President Trump has repeatedly threatened that he could launch a new military attack against Iran for the brutal repression of recent protests, or if it refuses to negotiate a new agreement on its nuclear program.

Speaking to News themezone last week, Trump said that “I’ve had” conversations with Iran in recent days and “I’m planning” to have more.

Trump said that, in those conversations, “he told them two things. Number one, no nuclear weapons. And number two, to stop killing protesters. They are killing thousands.”

At least 10 U.S. warships, including an aircraft carrier and at least five destroyers, were heading toward Iran’s coastal waters last week, a deployment Trump called an “armada” that he said he hopes he won’t have to use.

U.S. and Iranian officials are expected to hold talks later this week.