WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� U.S. forces have boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil in Asia, the Pentagon said Tuesday, as it puts into place tied to Tehran.
U.S. forces 鈥渃onducted a right-of-visit maritime interdiction鈥� of the M/T Tifani 鈥渨ithout incident,鈥� the Pentagon said on social media.
The tanker was captured in the Bay of Bengal 鈥� between India and Southeast Asia 鈥� and it was carrying Iranian oil, according to a U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing military operation. The military will decide in the next four days what to do with the vessel, such as tow it back to the U.S. or turn it over to another country, the official said.
It’s the latest move by the U.S. to stop any ship tied to Iran or those suspected of carrying supplies that could help its government, from weapons and oil to metals and electronics. The tanker was seized before President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. was in the Iran war at mediator Pakistan鈥檚 request but was keeping the blockade in place.
The tanker is that has been interdicted by the U.S. military. The U.S. Navy attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship on Sunday that it said had tried to evade its , with Trump saying an American destroyer blew a hole in the ship鈥檚 engine room.
Targeting Iran-linked ships in international waters
The Pentagon on social media described the Tifani as 鈥渟tateless鈥� despite it being a Botswana-flagged vessel.
鈥淎s we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran 鈥� anywhere they operate,鈥� the Pentagon announcement said, echoing previous statements from Trump administration officials. 鈥淚nternational waters are not a refuge for sanctioned vessels.鈥�
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that the enforcement actions would extend beyond Iranian waters and the area under control of U.S. Central Command.
U.S. forces in other areas of responsibility, he told reporters at the Pentagon, 鈥渨ill actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.鈥� He specifically pointed to operations in the Pacific and said the U.S. would target vessels that left before the blockade began outside , a crucial waterway for energy and other shipments.
The military also detailed an expansive list of goods that it considers contraband, declaring that it will board, search and seize them from merchant vessels 鈥渞egardless of location.鈥� says any 鈥済oods that are destined for an enemy and that may be susceptible to use in armed conflict鈥� are 鈥渟ubject to capture at any place beyond neutral territory.鈥�
Blockades can be lawful in wartime, expert says
The U.S. military鈥檚 actions against Iranian-linked vessels, namely the attack over the weekend on the cargo ship named the Touska, have raised questions about the two-week ceasefire.
The U.S. and Iran are operating in 鈥渁n awkward space where the law doesn鈥檛 give you a clean yes-or-no answer鈥� on whether the ceasefire was violated, said Jason Chuah, a law professor at the City University of London and the Maritime Institute of Malaysia.
鈥淭he United States seems to take the line that the conflict never fully switched off 鈥� that is there is still a state of armed conflict,鈥� Chuah said. 鈥淏y saying that, it can keep doing things like enforcing a blockade and even using limited force at sea.鈥�
Iran is treating the ceasefire as a pause on all hostile acts, Chuah said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday called the U.S. blockade a breach of the ceasefire and said 鈥渟triking a commercial vessel and taking its crew hostage is an even greater violation.鈥� In a letter, Iran’s U.N. Mission asked the U.N. Security Council and U.N. chief to condemn the U.S. for seizing the Touska and its crew.
The U.S. earlier had instituted a blockade against but had never fired on those vessels.
Blockades and even limited attacks on vessels can be lawful in wartime, with merchant vessels becoming legitimate targets if they contribute to military actions, carry contraband or are incorporated into enemy logistics, Chuah said.
It’s harder to prove that a ship such as the Touska is realistically contributing to military action against the U.S., Chuah said.
鈥淭he whole dispute really turns on a deceptively simple question: Did the ceasefire actually suspend the right to use force?鈥� Chuah said. 鈥淚f it did, then firing on vessels or seizing them is very hard to square with the United Nations Charter.鈥�
Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and a senior defense adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said a violation of the ceasefire is up for interpretation because there were no defined terms.
鈥淭rump announced it. The Iranians agreed. But there鈥檚 no formal agreement,鈥� Cancian said. 鈥淪o whether it broke the ceasefire or not depends on your perspective. … Nothing was written down.鈥�
Michael O鈥橦anlon, a defense and foreign policy analyst at the Brookings Institution, said the U.S. did not violate the ceasefire because it was limited to bombing Iran, not the blockade.
鈥淲e agreed to stop dropping bombs on them, and that鈥檚 the basic thing they wanted,鈥� O鈥橦anlon said, adding that the U.S. still had to enforce the blockade 鈥渋f you鈥檙e going to make it mean anything.鈥�
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AP writer Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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