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The US has been fending off Iran-backed terrorists in the region for weeks Iranian forces have seized an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, two U.S. military officials confirmed to Fox News on Thursday. The seized vessel, previously known as the Suez Rajan, was once at the center of another dispute between the U.S. and Iran that ultimately saw the U.S. seize over 1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil. Armed Iranian soldiers reportedly boarded the vessel Thursday morning. The U.S. and other Western navies have been combating attacks from Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen in the Red Sea...

A US destroyer intercepted a hijacked Israeli-managed oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden earlier today, freed the crew, and took the Houthi pirates into custody. My colleague Jeff Charles covered the piracy in this post, High Seas Drama: Another Israeli Tanker Seized by Unidentified Attackers Near Yemen.Shortly after dawn local time, the Central Park, a small Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker managed by an Israeli company registered in London, sent a distress call saying it was being boarded by armed men. The USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, was operating in the area. According to reports, the Mason directed...

The U.S. Navy said Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday amid wider tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program. The Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet identified the vessel as the Advantage Sweet. Satellite tracking data for the vessel from MarineTraffic.com showed it in the Gulf of Oman just north of Oman’s capital, Muscat, on Thursday afternoon. It had just come from Kuwait and listed its destination as Houston, Texas.

Roughly 1,800 U.S. service members, as well as several dozen fighter jets and other air defense implements, will be sent to Saudi Arabia to help protect the Kingdom amid heightened tensions with Iran, the Pentagon announced Friday. Officials said the U.S. is set to ship two F-15 squadrons, two Patriot missile batteries, one anti-missile defense system known as THADD and other planes. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he informed Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman earlier Friday about the additional troops “to ensure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia.” "Saudi Arabia is a longstanding security partner in the...

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation is reporting another ship has been seized in the gulf. Correspondent Amochai Stein said on Twitter: “Iran has seized another oil vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Revolutionary Guard arrests a vessel and 11 crew on 'diesel smuggling charges'."

Jeremy Hunt today warned that Iran may be choosing a “dangerous path” of “illegal and destabilising” behaviour after it seized a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf. The cargo vessel Stena Impero had been sailing through the Strait of Hormuz en route to Saudi Arabia when it was surrounded by four vessels and a helicopter at 4pm yesterday in an escalation of tensions between London and Tehran.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump backed the United Kingdom after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, saying the Islamic Republic is in “big trouble”. “Iran is showing their true colours,” President Trump told reporters outside the White House, adding: “Iran is in big trouble.”The President’s relationship with British government ministers and prominent opposition politicians, such as hard-left Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and London mayor Sadiq Khan, has often been strained, as they have rushed to commentate negatively on his administration in hopes of winning the approval of left-liberal activists and media commentators.Nevertheless, the American leader’s attitude to his...

Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it has seized a British oil tanker that was passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC's website, sepahnews.com, says the tanker "Impero Stena" was seized Friday by IRGC forces for "non-compliance with international maritime laws and regulations" and has transferred the vessel to an Iranian port. The report did not elaborate what port it was transferred to.

Shortened title. Full title: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announces seizure of oil tanker accused of smuggling fuel in the Strait of Hormuz Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has seized a foreign tanker and 12 crew members accused of smuggling Iranian fuel, according to a report on Iran’s state television Thursday. The seizure is the latest in a series of attacks involving ships and tankers, mostly in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf, that have sent tensions soaring between the United States and Iran.

A court in Gibraltar has ruled the ship can be detained for a further 14 days. Iran later summoned the British ambassador in Tehran to complain about what it said was a "form of piracy". Mohsen Rezaei said...: "If Britain does not release the Iranian oil tanker, it is the authorities' duty to seize a British oil tanker." Gibraltar said there was reason to believe the ship was carrying Iranian crude oil to the Baniyas Refinery in the Syrian Mediterranean port town of Tartous. The territory was initially able to detain the ship for 72-hours, but Gibraltar's Supreme Court granted...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - (AP) -- Mysterious attacks on oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz this week show how one of the world's crucial chokepoints for global energy supplies can be easily targeted, 30 years after the U.S. Navy and Iran were entangled in a similarly shadowy conflict called the "Tanker War." While the current tensions are nowhere near the damage done then, it underscores how dangerous the situation is and how explosive it can become. (...)

If there were any doubts Iran is responsible for the attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, a new report should put those doubts to rest. The United States has video of Iran removing unexploded mines from the side of one of the ships that was hit. The Iranian ship can be seen pulling alongside one of the tankers and removing what appears to be a limpet mine while believing they were not being watched. The video above, released by the United States Navy, shows the actions by the Iranians. The image below released by CentCom shows...

South Korea announced Sunday that it has seized another ship suspected of violating U.N. sanctions by selling oil to North Korea at sea – this time a Panama-flagged one. The announcement Sunday came just days after South Korea said it is holding the crew of a Hong Kong-flagged ship that allegedly handed over oil to a North Korean vessel in October. The 5,100-ton ship, named the KOTI, is being held in the western port of Pyeongtaek-Dangjin, maritime officials told Yonhap News Agency on Sunday. One official said the vessel has been blocked from departing the port since Dec. 21. The...

A fire broke out on an oil tanker of Mexican state oil company Pemex in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, forcing all the crew to be evacuated in the latest accident to plague the struggling firm. The blaze on the tanker “Burgos” occurred off the coast of Boca del Rio in Veracruz state and all the crew were safe, Pemex said in a tweet. Mexico’s Navy said there were 31 crew members and that all had returned to port. […] The tanker was carrying 80,000 barrels of diesel and 70,000 barrels of gasoline, Mexico’s Communications and Transport Ministry said....

North Korean tankers busy ahead of celebrations NK News vessel tracker shows nearly every DPRK oil tanker delivering to North Korean ports September 30th, 2015 Leo Byrne North Korea’s oil tanker fleet is especially busy ahead of next month’s anniversary of the founding of the Worker’s Party of Korea, with numerous vessels repurposed to Chinese waters from Russia, the NK News vessel tracker and data from Marine Traffic shows. Intermittent AIS tracking coverage around the Korean Peninsula often makes it difficult to see up-to-date positional information for the entire oil fleet simultaneously. However nearly every DPRK oil tanker broadcast its...

full title....Mystery of the missing tanker: Ship carrying $100million in Kurdish oil vanishes from radar screens 60 miles off the coast of Texas A tanker loaded with $100 million of crude oil that has been at the center of a dispute over Iraq's oil billions vanished off the coast of Texas on Thursday. The Kurdish tanker disappeared from Coast Guard radar screens following a month of legal wrangling over whether it can offload its cargo in the U.S. As the disintegration of Iraq amid mounting violence continues, the semi-autonomous regime in Kurdistan – in the north of Iraq – is...

Disputed Kurdish oil tanker mysteriously goes dark off Texas coast Reuters By Terry Wade and Anna Louie Sussman A tanker near Texas loaded with $100 million of disputed Iraqi Kurdish crude has disappeared from satellite tracking, the latest development in a high stakes game of cat-and-mouse between Baghdad and the Kurds. The AIS ship tracking system used by the U.S. Coast Guard and Reuters on Thursday showed no known position for the United Kalavrvta, which was carrying 1 million barrels of crude and 95 percent full when it went dark. The AIS ship tracking system used by the U.S. Coast...

A French-owned oil tanker missing off Ivory Coast with 17 sailors on board likely has been hijacked, an official with an international piracy watchdog said Monday, in what may be the latest attack by criminal gangs targeting the ships to steal their valuable cargo. Details remained scarce Monday about the fate of the ship, flagged in Luxembourg. The ship had been reported missing Sunday and officials believe it fell victim to the same pirates operating throughout the Gulf of Guinea, said Noel Choong, a spokesman for the International Maritime Bureau in Malaysia. ... Over the last year and a half,...

An oil tanker seized by pirates off the coast of the Niger Delta last week has been released, officials in Nigeria say. The vessel -- the MT Halifax -- was attacked near the oil city of Port Harcourt. The crew of 25, mainly Filipinos, were said to be safe and accounted for. The area has seen an increase in the number of hijackings of tankers as pirates target oil shipments moving out of Nigeria. In most cases the cargo of fuel is taken off before the ship and crew are released unharmed - unlike in Somalia where crews and their...

Japan Mulls Using Tanker to Remove Radiation-Tainted Water Tokyo, March 30 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government is considering using a tanker ship to collect radiation-tainted water from a quake-damaged nuclear plant, its top spokesman said Wednesday. The government is also considering blanketing broken parts of the plant's reactor buildings with special cloth to keep radioactive substances from spreading, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a news conference. Experts are discussing such options in order to limit radioactive contamination in areas around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to a minimum, he said. No conclusion has been reached, he said....