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An Iranian navy vessel fired shots during the second seizure attempt, Navy Fifth Fleet spokesperson Timothy Hawkins said. British maritime security company Ambrey said a warship with a multinational navy task group was in the area at the time and had requested the Iranian navy to "cease harassing" one of the merchant ships. Iran seized two oil tankers in a week just over a month ago, the U.S. Navy said. Refinitiv ship-tracking data shows the Richmond Voyager previously docked in Ras Tannoura in eastern Saudi Arabia before Wednesday's incident in the Gulf of Oman. The Richmond Voyager was sailing away from the Gulf with Singapore listed as its destination, Refinitiv ship tracking showed.

Persons: Timothy Hawkins, Hawkins, Ambrey, IRNA, Lisa Barrington, Jonathan Saul, Rami Ayyub, Jason Neely, David Holmes Organizations: U.S . Navy, Chevron, Richmond Voyager, Navy Fifth Fleet, Reuters, Marshall, Suez, Dubai, Thomson Locations: DUBAI, Iran, Gulf of Oman, U.S, Iranian, Oman, United States, Hormuz, Ras Tannoura, Saudi Arabia, Gulf, Singapore, Marshall Islands, Greece, U.S . Gulf, Mexico, Galveston, Washington

☆ US Navy video shows Iranian ship open fire at a merchant tanker that it was trying to capture
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Iranian naval ships tried to seize two oil tankers crossing Middle Eastern waters on Wednesday. The US Navy said in one incident, Iranian personnel opened fire on one of the commercial ships. The Iranian vessel tried to get the Richmond Voyager to stop, and reached within a mile of the tanker. The US Navy said Iranian personnel then "fired multiple, long bursts from both small arms and crew-served weapons" at the tanker, with several rounds hitting the hull. Unclassified US Navy drone footage shows the Iranian ship open fire at the Richmond Voyager, with some rounds ricocheting, shown in the video as small flashes above the tanker.

Persons: —, TRF Moss, Brad Cooper, Cooper, Biden Organizations: US Navy, Service, US Naval Forces Central Command, Bahamian, Richmond, Richmond Voyager, Navy, Fleet, Combined Maritime Forces, US, US Air Force Locations: Marshall, Gulf of Oman, Iranian, Oman, Hormuz, Iran, Washington, Yemen, Tehran, Syria

☆ Saudi Arabia urges improved maritime security in Gulf as ties with Iran resume
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 17 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia wants enhanced maritime security in the crucial Gulf region as part of its rapprochement with long-time rival Iran, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Saturday. The kingdom broke ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran in retaliation for Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. Iran has recently been trying to mend its strained ties with several Gulf Arab states. Saudi Arabia's rapprochement with Iran has left Israel largely alone as it has sought to isolate Iran diplomatically. The United Arab Emirates, which was the first Gulf Arab country to sign a normalisation agreement with Israel in 2020, resumed formal relations with Iran last year.

Persons: Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Prince Faisal, Hossein Amirabdollahian, Ebrahim Raisi, Amirabdollahian, Hatem Maher, Aziz El Yaakoubi, Mark Heinrich, Louise Heavens, Mike Harrison Organizations: Foreign, United, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Thomson Locations: Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Gulf, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Tehran, Saudi, Hormuz, United States, Israel, United Arab, Arab, Bahrain, Morocco, UAE, Cairo, Riyadh, Dubai

☆ Why Iran keeps seizing oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Brad Howard | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Over the last decade, Iran has been causing more and more headaches for oil tanker operators in the Strait of Hormuz, a central artery of global trade. In the last two years alone, Iran has harassed, attacked or interfered with 15 internationally flagged merchant vessels. This critical waterway separates the Persian Gulf from the Arabian Sea, which makes it an important conduit for millions of barrels of oil that flow through the region. In response to Iranian ship seizures, the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, which is responsible for security in the region, announced an increase in patrols. That included the guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton transiting the strait in late May.

Persons: Trump, Arona Baigal, Paul Hamilton, Victoria Coates Organizations: Middle East Security, Center, New, Navy's, Heritage Foundation, U.S Locations: Iran, Strait, Hormuz, New American, Iranian, U.S

☆ UAE says withdrew from U.S.-led maritime coalition two months ago
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, May 31 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates withdrew from a U.S.-led Middle East maritime security coalition two months ago after evaluating its security relationships, the Gulf state said early on Wednesday. The Combined Maritime Forces is a 34-nation task force, headquartered at the U.S. naval base in Bahrain, working on security, counter-terrorism and counter-piracy in the Red Sea and Gulf areas. "As a result of our ongoing evaluation of effective security cooperation with all partners, two months ago, the UAE withdrew its participation in the Combined Maritime Forces," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement carried by state news agency WAM. Five weeks ago, Iran seized two tankers within a week in Gulf waters near the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. Navy and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Persons: Lisa Barrington, Christopher Cushing Organizations: United Arab Emirates, Combined Maritime Forces, U.S, UAE, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wall, U.S . Navy, UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thomson Locations: DUBAI, U.S, East, Bahrain, United States, Iran, UAE, Hormuz, Dubai

☆ US military to bolster defensive posture in Gulf after Iran seizes tankers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. military will work to bolster the defensive posture in the Gulf region following Iran's seizure and harassment of commercial shipping vessels in recent months, U.S. officials said on Friday. In the past two years, Iran has harassed, attacked or interfered with the navigational rights of 15 internationally flagged commercial vessels, officials said. "The Department of Defense will be making a series of moves to bolster our defensive posture in the Arabian Gulf," White House spokesperson John Kirby told a news briefing. The U.S. Navy said on May 3 the Panama-flagged oil tanker Niovi was seized by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy while passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Days earlier, Iran had seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman.

☆ Iran Seizes Second Oil Tanker in a Week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Dion Nissenbaum | Costas Paris | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Iranian naval boats swarmed the Niovi after it left Dubai early Wednesday morning. Photo: HANDOUT FROM U.S.NAVAL FORCES CENTRAL COMMAND/VIA REUTERSIranian forces seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker on Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Navy said, marking the second time in less than a week that Iran has captured a commercial ship in the region. A dozen small Iranian naval boats swarmed the 360-yard-long Niovi after it left Dubai en route to the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah early Wednesday morning, the navy said. The Iranian boats forced the Niovi to reverse course and head toward Iran’s coast.

☆ Iran Seizes Second Oil Tanker in Gulf Waters in a Week, U.S. Navy Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Dion Nissenbaum | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Iranian forces seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker on Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Navy said, marking the second time in less than a week that Iran has captured a commercial ship in the region. A dozen small Iranian naval boats swarmed the 360-yard-long Niovi after it left Dubai en route to the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah early Wednesday morning, the navy said. The Iranian boats forced the Niovi to reverse course and head toward Iran’s coast.

☆ Iran seizes second oil tanker in a week in Gulf, US Navy says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DUBAI, May 3 (Reuters) - Iran has seized a second oil tanker in a week on Wednesday in Gulf waters, the U.S. Navy said, the latest escalation in a series of seizures or attacks on commercial vessels in Gulf waters since 2019. In Iran's first response, Tehran's prosecutor announced the oil tanker was seized on a judicial order following a complaint by a plaintiff, the judiciary's Mizan news agency said. The incident comes after Iran on Thursday seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman called the Advantage Sweet. The Niovi oil tanker seized on Wednesday had been travelling from Dubai toward the UAE's Fujairah port when it was forced by IRGCN boats to change course towards Iranian territorial waters, the Navy said. Since 2019, there have been a series of attacks on shipping in the strategic Gulf waters at times of tension between the United States and Iran.

☆ US Navy video shows a dozen Iranian fast-attack boats swarming an oil tanker in its latest maritime seizure
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A dozen Iranian attack boats seized an oil tanker crossing through Middle Eastern waters on Wednesday. The US Navy shared a video of the incident, which showed the boats swarm the vessel. The 1,100-foot-long Panama-flagged oil tanker Niovi departed Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and was on its way to the port city of Fujairah, when the incident unfolded at around 6:20 a.m. local time. On April 27, Iranian navy vessels intercepted the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Advantage Sweet as it was crossing international waters in the Gulf of Oman, a body of water that separates Oman from Iran. Panama-flagged oil tanker Niovi in the Strait of Hormuz.

☆ Iran seizes oil tanker in Gulf, U.S. Navy says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/4] Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Advantage Sweet, which, according to Refinitiv ship tracking data, is a Suezmax crude tanker which had been chartered by oil major Chevron and had last docked in Kuwait, sails at Marmara sea near Istanbul, Turkey January 10, 2023. Iran's army said it had seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman after it collided with an Iranian boat, injuring several crewmen, Iranian state media reported. The vessel's destination was listed as the U.S. Gulf of Mexico port of Houston, ship tracking data showed. Iran last November released two Greek-flagged tankers it seized in the Gulf in May in response to the confiscation of oil by the United States from an Iranian-flagged tanker off the Greek coast. The U.S. Navy, whose Fifth Fleet is based at the Gulf island state of Bahrain, called on Iran to immediately release the tanker.

☆ Iran says its navy forces U.S. submarine to surface as it enters the Gulf
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, April 20 (Reuters) - Iran's navy forced a U.S. submarine to surface as it entered the Gulf, Iranian navy commander Shahram Irani told state television on Thursday, in the latest report of an apparent confrontation between Iranian and U.S. forces in the Gulf. "The U.S. submarine was approaching while submerged, but the Iranian submarine Fateh detected it and carried out... manoeuvres to force it to surface as it went through the Strait (of Hormuz). It had also entered into our territorial waters but ... it corrected its course after being warned," Irani said. In early April, the Iranian navy said it identified and warned off a U.S. reconnaissance plane outside the mouth of the Gulf. In 2019, Iran shot down a U.S. drone which it said was flying over southern Iran.

☆ China is succeeding in the Middle East because it learned from watching the US fail there for 20 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Natalie Armbruster | Defense Priorities | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Conversely, China is clear-eyed about its interests in the Middle East and, more importantly, their limits. In fact, most of China's Belt and Road Initiative investments in the Middle East hinge on ensuring free trade in the Middle East and a steady energy supply, not security. As international scrutiny builds surrounding the Uyghur crisis, China is particularly keen on finding partners in the Middle East who will exchange silence for investment. With Saudi Arabia, which has its own skeletons in its closet, such a trade is tempting. Instead of resorting to undue threat inflation, the United States may benefit from a corrective course on its history in the Middle East thus far.

☆ For the 2nd year in a row, Iran is sailing its biggest warship around the world to show off its growing navy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Constantine Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Iranian warships left Iran in September on what one official said was a journey around the world. Visiting far off landsIranian navy Makran near the Strait of Hormuz in May 2021. They have repeatedly seized Iranian arms shipments bound for Yemen and have often had tense encounters with Iranian warships. Iran has also started an indigenous shipbuilding program to grow its navy, which is designed to defend the Persian Gulf. "Yet the focus of Iran will continue to be the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and the Indian ocean.

☆ Pakistan to start importing Russian oil after March
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Asif Shahzad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Pakistan has been battling a balance of payment crisis with foreign exchange reserves falling to $4.6 billion, barely enough to cover three weeks of imports - mostly for oil. It said in October it was considering buying discounted Russian crude, citing neighbouring India which has been purchasing from Moscow. Pakistan officials and Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov, who is in Islamabad for an annual inter-governmental commission on trade and economy, did not specify the size of the planned purchases. Pakistan junior oil minister Musadik Malik told local Geo News TV separately that Islamabad wanted to import 35% of its total crude oil requirement. Shulginov said Russian gas companies might not be in a position at present to extend any supplies to Pakistan.

☆ Iran warned off spy plane near Iranian war games in the Gulf, Fars reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Iran's military launched a drone to warn off a reconnaissance plane trying to approach Iranian war games on the Gulf coast, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Saturday. The report did not specify the nationality of the reconnaissance aircraft, but Iranian forces have had repeated similar confrontations with U.S. forces in the Gulf. Iran launched annual joint naval, air, and ground exercises in the Gulf on Friday near the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway. Departments of Defense and State did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reporting by Dubai newsroom; additional reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington;Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The US doesn't have to worry about China repeating its mistakes in the Middle East
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Natalie Armbruster | Defense Priorities | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

It was seen as a message to the US, but it's a mistake to think China has the same ambitions in the Middle East as the US. China has long assessed US involvement in the Middle East to be damaging to American power and strength. The first thing to know is China's involvement in the Middle East rests primarily on its energy dependence. Taking sides among adversaries in the Middle East would only limit China's trading partners and opportunities for mutual economic interest. The reality is that no matter China's view of the Middle East, the potential benefits that China could garner from its investments in the Middle East are not significant nor threatening enough to US interests to warrant the current level of worry.

☆ An Iranian patrol vessel tried to blind the bridges of US Navy ships sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, US military says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

An Iranian vessel tried to blind the bridges of US Navy ships on Monday, CENTCOM said. Two US Navy ships were conducting a routine crossing through the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy patrol boat crossed within 150 yards of the ships at night. "The Iranian vessel attempted to blind the bridge by shining a spotlight and crossed within 150 yards of the US ships — dangerously close, particularly at night," CENTCOM said, adding that the US Navy ships were conducting a routine crossing in international waters. In late November, the US Navy said an Iranian-made suicide drone was used in an attack on a commercial tanker while it was sailing in the Northern Arabian Sea.

☆ Explainer: Iran and Russia's growing drone alliance amid Western outcry
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Michael Georgy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

A Russian drone is seen during a Russian drone strike, which local authorities consider to be Iranian made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Shahed-136, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine October 17, 2022. Saudi Arabia and the United States have said they believe Iran was behind a drone and missile attack on prized Saudi oil facilities in 2019, which Tehran denies. The United States fears long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit could also be used to launch nuclear warheads. WHY HAS IRAN BUILT UP ITS OWN MISSILE AND DRONE CAPABILITY? Western powers are expected to impose more sanctions on Iran.

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