US Ship Seized by Iranian Warships

A US cargo ship with 34 crew was stopped and seized by Iranian Navy warships on Tuesday.

Iranian naval ships fired across the bow of a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, and forced it to head to Iranian territory, US defense officials said.

The Iranian Navy has confiscated the American trade vessel with all its 34 crew, reports said.

Other reports mentioned the vessel has been seized for trespassing on Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.

Al-Arabiya TV channel said an Iranian warship is now taking the American vessel to Iran’s Southern port city of Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf.

Iranian officials have not confirmed the development yet, but a Pentagon spokesman said a Marshall Islands-flagged ship had been boarded by the Iranian navy.

Yet, another American official told Reuters there were “no indications so far” of any US ship being directed into an Iranian port.

“The vessel initially ignored the warning, but complied after the shots were fire,” a US Army Colonel Steve Warren told RT.