IRGC Navy Foiled U.S. Attempt to Steal Iranian Oil: Iranian Media

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) foiled an attempt by the United States to take over a giant oil tanker in the strategic Sea of Oman and moved the vessel to the Iranian territorial waters, Iranian state media claimed.

U.S. military allegedly confiscated an Iranian tanker loaded with crude oil in the Sea of Oman and transferred its contents to another tanker before directing it to an unknown destination, government-owned Press TV reported Wednesday.

In retaliation, members of the IRGC’s Navy carried out a heliborne operation on the stolen ship’s deck, gained control of the vessel, and directed it back toward Iran’s territorial.

U.S. forces then proceeded to chase the tanker using several helicopters and warships but the attempt to take over the vessel for a second time was thwarted again by Iranian naval forces, the report said.

The tanker is currently docked in Iranian territorial waters.

Tensions have risen between Iran and the U.S. over the former's return to talks aimed at reviving a 2015 deal under which Iran curtailed its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of global sanctions.

On Wednesday, Iran's top security official Ali Shamkhani said that the talks would fail unless the Biden administration could guarantee that Washington would not renege on the nuclear agreement in the future.