Seoul: The soldiers of the Irani Revolutionary Guard forcibly boarded a South Korean tanker and forced the ship to divert it to Iran. The company that owns the ship gave this information on Tuesday. The incident occurred amid growing Tehran tensions with Western countries over Iran’s nuclear program.
For this military crackdown on MT Hanakuk Chemi on Monday, Iran has clarified that it has taken this step to prevent the spread of pollution in the Persian Gulf and the Hormuz Strait. However, instead it appears that Iran has done so to pressurize Seoul ahead of talks about the billions of dollars of Iranian assets seized in South Korean banks amid mounting US pressure against him.
Iran also began making up to 20 percent uranium enrichment at its underground Forto Nuclear Institute on Monday, although this is only a small technological step towards achieving the target of 90 percent uranium enrichment needed to build nuclear weapons. Iran’s move appears to be aimed at putting pressure on America during the last days of US President Donald Trump’s term.
An official of Busan, South Korea’s DM Shipping Company Limited, said that the ship was going from Jubail in Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia (UAE) in Fujairah when Iranian troops boarded the ship. They reported that initially Iranian soldiers said they wanted to check on the ship.
When the ship’s captain spoke to the company’s security officers in South Korea, armed Iranian troops took the tanker into their possession and mounted an Iranian helicopter over the tanker. The officer said the soldiers asked the ship’s captain to take the tanker to the Iranian waters for testing. The official said that the company has not been able to contact the captain of the ship since then. Onboard security cameras are also now closed. After receiving contact with the captain, he received a security alert notice of the company’s anti-piracy, indicating that the captain had turned on the onboard warning system.
However, it is still unclear whether the ship tried to ask for help with external aid. The US Navy’s fifth fleet in West Asia is patrolling the waters with the US-led coalition monitoring the Hormuz Strait. At the same time, a separate effort is also being made under the leadership of European countries.
The Hormuz Strait is the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, a route through which 20 percent of the world’s crude oil passes. However, the official denied that the vessel was causing pollution in the water area. The Foreign Ministry of South Korea said in a statement demanding the ship be freed that its crew members are safe.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry has said that it is sending a counter-piracy unit near the Hormuz Strait, which will have a destroyer vessel and about 300 soldiers. The US State Department has also demanded the immediate release of the tanker. At the same time, it is alleged that Iran is threatening shipping rights and independence in the Persian Gulf to ease the pressure of sanctions.
Significantly, last year too, Iran captured a British oil tanker in a similar manner and held it for months.
