DUBAI, UAE – Iranian state television has acknowledged that Tehran confiscated a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
Monday’s report alleged that MT Hankuk Chemi had been detained by Iranian authorities for alleged “oil pollution” in the Persian Gulf and the strait.
The semi-official Fars agency said that the naval forces of the Revolutionary Guard of Iran seized the ship.
MarineTraffic.com satellite data showed MT Hankuk Chemi in the port of Bandar Abbas on Monday afternoon without explanation. He had traveled from Saudi Arabia to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. The boat owners could not be contacted immediately for comment.
THIS IS A LATEST NEWS UPDATE. The previous AP story follows below.
DUBAI, UAE – Iran on Monday began enriching uranium by up to 20% in an underground facility, a small technical step in terms of arms levels, as fears were feared that Tehran would take a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
The announcement of enrichment in Fordo came at a time when Western officials said they feared MT Hankuk Chemi would be confiscated.
It comes amid intense tensions between Iran and the United States in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s tenure, which saw the U.S. leader unilaterally withdraw from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers and started months of climbing incidents between the two countries.
Iranian state television quoted spokesman Ali Rabiei as saying that President Hassan Rouhani had given the order for the transfer to Fordo’s facilities.
Iran’s decision to start getting rich up to 20% a decade ago sparked an Israeli strike against its nuclear facilities, tensions that only eased with the 2015 atomic agreement. 20% enrichment, it can be seen that the return on recovery capacity is reduced.
Trump withdrew the United States unilaterally from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. In time since then, there have been a number of increasing incidents between the two countries.
Iran’s decision comes after Parliament passed a bill, later passed by a constitutional oversight body, aimed at enriching hiking to pressure Europe to provide relief from sanctions. It also serves as pressure ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who has said he is willing to re-enter the nuclear deal.
Iran reported last week to the International Atomic Energy Agency that it planned to take the step. The IAEA said on Monday that “agency inspectors have been overseeing activities” in Fordo and that its director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, planned to issue a report to member countries of the United Nations later. .
Meanwhile, satellite data from MarineTraffic.com showed Bandar Abbas’ MT Hankuk Chemi on Monday afternoon, with no explanation for the change in the ship’s course. He had traveled from Saudi Arabia to Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates.
Calls to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the shipowner, DM Shipping Co. Ltd. of Busan, South Korea, received no response immediately Monday after business hours. Iran did not recognize the location of the ship.
The UK’s maritime trade operations, an exchange of information overseen by the British Royal Navy in the region, recognized an “interaction” between a merchant ship and Iranian authorities in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth. of the Persian Gulf through which 20% passes all the oil in the world.
As a result, the UKMTO said the merchant ship made a “course alteration” north of Iran’s territorial waters.
Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, said authorities were aware of it and were monitoring the situation.
Ambrey, a British security company, denounced the incident as an apparent confiscation. Dryad Global, another maritime security company, said the ship’s crew was 23 sailors from Indonesia and Myanmar.
Iran’s announcement coincides with the anniversary of the US drone strike that killed revolutionary guard general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last year. That attack later saw Iran retaliate by launching a ballistic missile attack, wounding dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq. Tehran also accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane that night and killed all 176 people on board.
As the anniversary approached, the United States sent B-52 bombers flying over the region and sent a nuclear-powered submarine into the Persian Gulf.
On Thursday, sailors discovered a carpet mine at a Persian Gulf oil tanker near Iraq near the Iranian border as they prepared to transfer fuel to another oil company owned by a listed company. of New York. No one has claimed responsibility for the mining, although it comes after a series of similar attacks in 2019 near the Hormuz Strait that the U.S. Navy blamed on Iran. Tehran denied being involved.
In November, an Iranian scientist who founded the country’s military nuclear program two decades earlier died in an attack that Tehran blamed on Israel.
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Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
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