The United States plans to put soldiers on oil tankers transiting the Gulf in order to dissuade Iran from seizing these vessels, an American official announced on Thursday.
US Response to Threats: Soldiers to Prevent Iranian Tanker Seizures
“Measures have been taken… to use security teams made up of Marines and members of the US Navy on merchant oil tankers transiting through and near the Strait of Hormuz in order to reinforce the defenses of its vulnerable vessels,” this source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
To do this, an invitation is required as these vessels are privately owned, but “we are preparing to do so if definitive agreements are reached”, continued the official.
This new level of protection is in addition to the deployment of a warship and F-35 and F-16 fighter jets in the area, announced by the Pentagon in mid-July. According to the US military, Iran has seized or attempted to seize nearly 20 international flag vessels in the region over the past two years. In early July, the US Navy announced its opposition to Iran’s seizure of two oil tankers in international waters off Oman.
At the end of April, the Iranian army seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker bound for the United States in the Gulf of Oman, before seizing a Panama-flagged tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz a week later. Incidents have multiplied in the waters of the Gulf, a crucial maritime zone for the global transport of oil, since in 2018 the United States withdrew from the international agreement designed to limit Iran’s nuclear program, reimposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic targeting its oil sector in particular.
