US seizes Iranian tanker

U.S. forces boarded the tanker M/T Majestic X in the Indian Ocean overnight, widening Washington’s campaign against ships it says move Iranian oil. (abcnews.com) The Pentagon said on April 23 that the Majestic X was a “sanctioned stateless vessel” carrying oil from Iran in the Indo-Pacific Command area. Ship-tracking data placed it between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, on a route toward Zhoushan, China. (abcnews.com) The vessel was not in the Strait of Hormuz, where the naval confrontation is most acute. CBS reported the boarding came “far from” the strait, even as U.S. and Iranian forces traded ship seizures elsewhere in the region. (cbsnews.com) Hours later, President Donald Trump said he had ordered the Navy to “shoot and kill any boat” laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz and to clear the waterway with mine-sweeping efforts running at “a tripled up level.” (cnbc.com) The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow sea lane between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and Time reported that about a fifth of global oil production moves through it. Mines there can block tankers without a fleet battle, because commercial ships cannot safely pass until the water is cleared. (time.com) This week’s tanker seizure follows another U.S. interdiction of the tanker Tifani in roughly the same part of the Indian Ocean, according to Associated Press reporting carried by U.S. outlets. ABC said the Majestic X was the latest vessel the Pentagon linked to Iranian oil smuggling networks. (abcnews.com) Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, meanwhile, took control of two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz a day earlier, according to Associated Press reporting. That has turned commercial shipping into a tit-for-tat pressure campaign, with Washington targeting cargoes and Tehran targeting traffic in the chokepoint itself. (twincities.com) The legal hinge in the U.S. case is the ship’s status. World Oil, citing Pentagon language and shipping database records, reported that the Majestic X was treated as stateless and listed in Equasis as sailing under a false flag, a status that can strip a vessel of normal protections on the high seas. (worldoil.com) Iran had not publicly responded immediately to the Majestic X seizure, ABC reported. The next test is whether mine-clearing in Hormuz lowers the risk to shipping or whether more boardings and counter-seizures pull the two sides closer to direct naval combat. (abcnews.com)