SEOUL (AP) – Iranian Revolutionary Guard armed forces stormed a South Korean oil tanker and forced the ship to change course and travel to Iran, the ship’s owner said on Tuesday, the latest maritime hijacking in Tehran amid increased tensions with the West over its nuclear program.
Monday’s military raid on MT Hankuk Chemi contradicted Iranian explanations that they stopped the ship to pollute the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, it appears that the Islamic Republic tried to increase its leverage on Seoul before the $ 1 billion deal in frozen Iranian assets in South Korean banks amid a US pressure campaign targeting Iran.
On Monday, Iran also started enriching uranium by up to 20%, a small technical step away from the 90% armament levels, at its Fordo underground installation. The move came as a result of pressure on the US in the last days of President Donald Trump’s administration, which unilaterally withdrew from the Tehran nuclear deal with world powers and before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who said he was willing to reintroduce the deal.
An official from DM Shipping Co. Ltd. in Busan, South Korea, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to reporters, provided details about the seizure of Hankuk Chemi. The ship was traveling from Jubail, Saudi Arabia, to Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates, when Iranian forces arrived on the ship and said they would board.
Initially, Iranian forces said they wanted to conduct an unspecified check on the ship, the official said. As the ship’s captain spoke with the company’s security officials in South Korea, Iranian armed forces stormed the tanker while an Iranian helicopter flew overhead, the official said. The troops asked the captain to navigate the tanker in Iranian waters following an unspecified investigation and refused to explain themselves, the official added.
Since then, the company has not been able to reach the captain, the official said. The security cameras installed on the ship that initially transmitted the recordings from the deck stage to the company are now stopped, the official said.
After the company lost contact with the captain, the company received an anti-piracy security alert notification, suggesting the captain activated an on-board warning system, the official said. It remains unclear whether the ship attempted to seek external assistance.
The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in the Mideast routinely patrols the area with an American-led coalition monitoring the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world’s oil passes. A separate European-led effort operates there as well.
The official denied that the ship had polluted the waters.
In recent months, Iran has tried to step up pressure on South Korea to release frozen assets of about $ 7 billion in oil sales earned before the Trump administration tightened sanctions on the country’s oil exports.
The head of Iran’s central bank recently announced that the country is trying to use funds tied up in a South Korean bank to buy coronavirus vaccines through COVAX, an international program designed to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to participating countries.
South Korea’s foreign ministry has called for the ship’s release, saying in a statement that its crew is safe. The crew included sailors from Indonesia, Myanmar, South Korea and Vietnam, according to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. South Korea’s Defense Ministry says it is sending its anti-piracy unit near the Strait of Hormuz – a 4,400-ton destroyer with about 300 soldiers.
The US State Department has called for the immediate release of the tank, accusing Iran of threatening “rights and freedoms of navigation” in the Persian Gulf to “extort the international community to ease the pressure of sanctions”.
Last year, Iran similarly confiscated a British-flagged oil tanker and held it for months after one of its oil tankers was detained off the coast of Gibraltar.
The latest incidents coincide with the anniversary of the US drone strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last January. Iran has responded by launching ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq, injuring dozens of US soldiers. Tehran also accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane the same night, killing all 176 people on board.
As the anniversary approached and feared possible Iranian retaliation, the United States sent B-52 bombers over the region and ordered a nuclear-powered submarine in the Persian Gulf.
US Defense Secretary-General Christopher Miller said late Sunday that he had changed his mind about sending the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier home from the Middle East and would keep the service ship instead. He cited Iranian threats against Trump and other US government officials as a reason for the redistribution, without further explanation.
Last week, sailors discovered a wrecked mine stranded on a Persian Gulf oil tanker off Iraq, near the Iranian border, as it prepared to transfer fuel to another oil company owned by a New York-listed company. No one has claimed responsibility for the placement of the mine, although it comes after similar attacks in 2019 near the Strait of Hormuz, which the US Navy blamed on Iran. Tehran has denied involvement.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre of Dubai; Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel; and Robert Burns and Matthew Lee of Washington contributed to this report.