NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE O n May 3, Iran seized the second oil tanker in a week in Gulf waters. According to the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (UNFCC), Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) seized the Panama-flagged vessel Niovi. Over the last two years, the UNFCC noted in a statement, “Iran has harassed, attacked, or interfered with the navigational rights of 15 internationally flagged merchant vessels.”
These incidents in the Gulf, a vital region for shipping, have come since America’s exit from the Iran nuclear agreement and the reimposition of sanctions on the regime. The most recent confrontations also follow the West’s tightening of sanctions on the IRGC, which Iran responded to with its own financial sanctions and entry bans on EU and U.K. entities and individuals. The tit for tat has broader consequences, however: Iran’s actions in the Gulf pose a “risk to shipping and energy and energy infrastructure in the wider region as long as the issue of Iran’s nuclear program remains unresolved,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, a risk analyst.
For instance, Greece, home to some of the world’s largest maritime-services entities, warned shipowners to carry out navigation “outside the waters under Iran’s jurisdiction, and under increased caution,” when sailing in the region, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, and issued informal warnings to leave even international waters near Iran. Many Greek-flagged vessels did in fact exit the Gulf region, according to maritime-security firm Ambrey.
The Biden administration has faced criticism for blocking U.S. ship seizures of vessels carrying sanctioned Iranian oil despite Iran’s recent actions, possibly in hopes of a new nuclear deal with the hostile nation.
The Niovi, the Panama-flagged oil tanker owned by Greece-based Altomare, had been traveling through the Strait of Hormuz on May 3 toward the UAE’s Fujairah port, across the Gulf from Iran and north of Oman. According to the UNFCC statement, “a dozen IRGCN fast-attack craft swarmed the vessel in the middle of the strait,” forcing it to change course toward Iranian territorial waters.
In the same statement, the UNFCC noted Iran’s April 27 seizure of a Marshall Islands–flagged oil tanker, Advantage Sweet, carrying crude oil from Kuwait to the U.S. The tanker was seized as it “transited international waters in the Gulf of Oman.”
The U.S. State Department has also called for the Niovi’s release, with deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel telling reporters that “Iran’s harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional and international waters are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional stability and security.”
Regarding the Panama-flagged oil tanker, Tehran’s prosecutor announced that the vessel’s seizure was carried out on a judicial order that followed a legal complaint. Iran also claimed that the Marshall Islands–flagged tanker had collided with an Iranian vessel and then fled the scene, ignoring multiple warnings. Iranian state TV said that the collision injured multiple crew members and left three missing, with the tanker ignoring radio calls after the collision.
“Before using force, we tried to call the vessel . . . to stop, but they did not cooperate,” said Iranian admiral Mostafa Tajodini.
However, Ambrey said in an advisory to its clients that Iran’s seizure of Advantage Sweet was a response to the U.S. seizure of oil cargo on an Iranian tanker following a court order: “Iran has previously responded tit-for-tat following seizures of Iranian oil cargo.”
Moreover, tracking data from the Advantage Sweet showed no irregularities that would have suggested a collision, and Iran has a history of creating justifications for vessel seizures that were actually committed for leverage in negotiations with the West.
Satellite photos show that the two oil tankers seized by Iran are close to a naval base in Bandar Abbas, a port city in Iran’s Hormozgān province. The Niovi is said to have received oil in July 2020 from the ship Oman Pride, which was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2021 for being “involved in an international oil smuggling network” supporting Iran’s Quds Force, which manages proxy fighters and intelligence-gathering in the Middle East. Separate emails released by Wikiran, a website that releases leaked documents from Iran, convey the possibility that the Niovi’s cargo, which is suspected to have originated in Iran and belonged to U.S.-sanctioned firms based in Oman and Turkey, was sold to Chinese firms without the owners’ permission, resulting in a legal dispute.
The organization United Against a Nuclear Iran said in a statement that it “strongly suspects the seizure of the Niovi is related to a dispute over a shipment of Iranian oil.”
In addition to the recent ship seizures, Iran may have smuggled weapons and military equipment concealed with humanitarian-aid shipments after the devastating February earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria. This is according to a classified U.S.-intelligence document, which appeared in the leak of classified information on Discord, an online messaging service. A U.S. defense official has affirmed to the Washington Post, on the condition of anonymity, that the activity described in the document reflects past Iranian efforts to “use humanitarian aid going into Iraq and Syria as a way to get materials to IRCG-affiliated groups,” but did not confirm whether the document itself was authentic.
Despite Iran’s hostility toward the U.S. and its allies, which extends to incidents such as the killing of U.S. contractor Scott Dubis by an Iranian drone strike in Syria, the Biden administration remains reluctant to enforce sanctions on Iranian oil. The Department of Homeland Security says Treasury Department “policy limitations” prevent the U.S. government from seizing tankers carrying sanctioned oil. Homeland Security Investigation’s Iranian oil-seizures program was not funded in fiscal 2022. In the past year, meanwhile, Iranian oil exports have increased by 35 percent, and a bipartisan group of twelve senators led by Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) has since called on Biden in an April 27 letter to support Iranian oil seizures and demand an explanation for its lack of enforcement and funding:
United States sanctions should be enforced to the fullest extent of the law. As Iranian oil sales continue to rise, and the IRGC continues to target U.S. citizens and servicemembers, including inside the U.S., it is imperative that we use all available government assets to limit the activities of the Iranian regime.
Iran’s recent acts raise questions of whether U.S. policies that are gentle toward Tehran and ultimately aim for a new nuclear deal are an adequate response to its continued aggression, as well as whether such a deal is worth working toward in the first place.