From Reuters:
Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said an Iranian "force" seized a U.S. cargo ship in the Gulf on Tuesday and directed it to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
The channel said the force had "opened fire" on the U.S. ship, which had 34 U.S. sailors aboard. It gave no further details.
The U.S. Fifth Fleet in the Gulf Arab kingdom of Bahrain had no immediate comment on the report.BBC Breaking News: ran captures US cargo ship and escorts it to Iranian port
UPDATE - Now, Fox News is reporting this ship flies the flag of Marshall Islands". It is not an American ship, and the New York Times is saying the ship is Danish and there are no American sailors aboard.
Ace of Spades points out:
4 comments:
I hope the Pentagon and other US authorities start claiming the ship is not US flagged. We all know about flag-of-convenience registries, and the Marshall Islands are a paradise for foreign shipping companies.
From what I gather ..... this ship is owned by a German shipping company that is in financial trouble.
Iran's claims of unpaid port fees might be valid.
Its a money thing ..... shouldn't be our problem to fix. If you're going to avoid paying taxes in the 1st world by flagging your ship in the 3rd world ..... good luck to you when you need some state sponsored muscle to retrieve your assets.
Iran's probably pissed about the Saudis embargo of Yemen and shelling the runway in Yemen so their planes cant land there.
I notice the Saudis chickened out on actually shooting down the Iranian plane and instead bombed the runway.
That tells you a lot about their risk aversion. They too are looking for a way to make their Yemen problem ours to fix.
RT,
That's interesting, and although I have not seen that reported anywhere, I believe you, because you're you, you don't lie, and because it makes sense.
Reuters: Iran's Tasnim news agency quoted an unidentified source who sought to play down the incident, saying it was a civil matter with no military or political dimension.
Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television earlier said an Iranian force fired on and seized a U.S. cargo ship with 34 U.S. sailors on board, and directed it to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. But the Pentagon spokesman said there were no U.S. citizens on board the ship.
The company managing the vessel told a Danish news channel there were 24 crew members, mostly from eastern Europe and Asia.
Reuters tracking data showed the Maersk Tigris, a 65,000-tonne container ship, off the Iranian coast between the islands of Qeshm and Hormuz. It had been listed as sailing from the Saudi port of Jeddah, bound for the United Arab Emirates port of Jebel Ali.
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