Chilling moment Iranian navy seizes US-bound oil tanker 'Advantage Sweet' in helicopter raid in Gulf of Oman - with one masked commando seen punching his fist in celebration
Iran on Friday released gloating video of navy commandos seizing the oil tanker.
Tanker 'Advantage Sweet' was bound for the US when it was seized on Thursday.
Tehran claims without evidence that the ship 'collided 'with an Iranian boat.
Iranian state television has released gloating footage of masked navy commandos conducting a helicopter-borne raid to seize a US-bound oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman
The capture on Thursday of the Turkish-managed, Chinese-owned Advantage Sweet represents the latest tanker seizure by Iran amid tensions with the US over Tehran's burgeoning nuclear program.
Tehran claims the tanker was seized after it 'collided' with another Iranian vessel -- but has provided no evidence yet to support the claim, and Iran has taken other ships as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West.
The footage showed the commandos descending on the deck of the Advantage Sweet by ropes from a hovering helicopter. A photograph showed one commando with his fist in the air after apparently taking the vessel.
The US Navy's 5th Fleet has said the Iranian seizure was at least the fifth commercial vessel taken by Tehran in the last two years.
'Iran's continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy,' it added.
The vessel's manager, a Turkish firm called Advantage Tankers, issued a statement acknowledging the Advantage Sweet was 'being escorted by the Iranian navy to a port on the basis of an international dispute.' All the ship's 24 crew members are Indian.
'The safety and welfare of our valued crew members is our No. 1 priority,' the firm said. 'Similar experiences show that crew members of vessels taken under such circumstances are in no danger.'
Officials said the vessel had been heading to Houston - before it was abruptly hijacked in international waters. The US Navy said in a statement the unlawful seizure was carried out by Iran's own naval branch.
The vessel sent a distress signal at 1.15pm, officials said, while being taken in international waters just north of Oman's capital, Muscat. The boat disembarked from Kuwait Monday and passed through the Persian Gulf the day before.
The US Navy fleet stationed in that area of the world is now demanding the ship's immediate release, with it being the fifth commercial vessel unlawfully taken by Tehran in the past two years.
'Iran's actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability,' the military branch's 5th Fleet said in a statement Thursday that announced the boat's capture.
'The Iranian government should immediately release the oil tanker,' it added.
Initially, The Navy had said Iran’s paramilitary seized the vessel, but an American naval aircraft shortly thereafter confirmed Iran's navy captured the ship.
Fifth Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins clarified this to The Associated Press Thursday as news of the seizure remained largely shrouded, with few details shared more than an hour later.
A report from Iran’s state-run news station, IRNA, claimed it came after an 'unknown ship collided with an Iranian vessel last night in the Persian Gulf.'
The alleged crash, the agency claimed, caused 'several Iranian crew members to go missing and get injured.'
The report did not specify the other ship involved in the alleged collision, but claimed it tried to flee when confronted by Iranian forces.
'The unknown vessel, while acting in violation of international regulations to help the vessel and the injured, attempted to escape from the Persian Gulf.'
It added: 'In this operation, the Binder destroyer of the navy of the army, by court order, seized the violator ship that was fleeing with the flag of the Marshall Islands and directed it to the coastal waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran.'
The US Navy, however, insisted the incident served as just the latest example of aggression by the Islamic regime toward civilian vessels, as it continues to flout a 2015 diplomacy deal that saw it dismantle much of its nuclear program.
'Iran's continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy,' the 5th fleet said in its statement, before citing how since 2019, attacks on shipping in the strategic Gulf waters by Iran have been on the rise.
The same year that heightened aggression was first seen, Iran began ignoring limitations detailed in the historical Iran Nuclear Deal, a year after then-President Trump withdrew the US from the deal.
Washington and Tehran have since said they would be willing to return to the original deal, but that day has yet to come - and tensions have continued to rise between the two countries.
Amid these tensions, Iran has seized ships belonging to an assortment of Western countries, as they pass through the same narrow chokepoint between Iran and Oman where the Advantage Sweet traveled.
Called the Strait of Hormuz, it's a route that a fifth of the world's oil passes through, and is crucial to world trade.
Iran last November captured - and a day later - released two Greek-flagged tankers it had seized in the Gulf in May, days after the US confiscated oil from an Iranian-flagged tanker off the Greek coast.
Like three other incidents that preceded it over the past year, nothing became of it - aside from demonstrating Iran's defiance toward Washington.
In the recent case of the Sweet, the vessel's manager, a Turkish firm, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the county's mission to the United Nations.
The listed owner of the boat is a Chinese company called SPDBFL No One Hundred & Eighty-Seven (Tianjin) Ship Leasing Co Ltd.
More photos below .
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