Washington DC, July 19: The United States has on Thursday demanded Iran to immediately free the seized “foreign tanker” in the Strait of Hormuz accused of smuggling fuel as an American military commander said Washington would make “aggressive” efforts to ensure free navigation of vessels through the disputed waterways.
According to Al-Jazeera news reports, US department of state insisted Tehran must release the vessel and its 12 crew members and halt its actions harassing oil tankers in and around Hormuz strait.
In an email to Reuters news agency, a spokesperson for state department said, “The United States strongly condemns the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with safe passage in and around the Strait of Hormuz.”
“Iran must cease this illicit activity and release the reportedly seized crew and vessel immediately.”
IRGC has on Thursday said they had captured and detained a foreign oil tanker and its 12 crew members off the strategic strait of Hormuz for allegedly smuggling fuel, winding it as the latest incident to an already tensed standoff in the Gulf region.
The Guards said the vessel was detained south of Larak island of Iran, without providing any further detail like provenance or name.
Footage by the Iranian state-run TV broadcast on Thursday showed patrol ships of a kind used by the IRGC, surrounding an oil tanker marked “Panam” and “Riah”.
TankerTrackers, the oil shipping monitor, has reported the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker Riah, used in the Hormuz strait for “fuelling other vessels” had on Sunday crossed into the Iranian waters.
On Thursday, United States central command chief Kenneth McKenzie vowed: “We are going to work very aggressively with our partners … to come to a solution that will enable the free passage of critical oil and other commodities … through the region.”
Also read: Iran’ IRGC claims to seize ‘foreign tanker’, 12 crews off Hormuz Strait accused of smuggling fuel