The U.S. Navy said Wednesday that it had thwarted efforts by Iran’s military to commandeer two commercial oil tankers off Oman, and that one of the attempted seizures involved intense gunfire.
Overhead, an American MQ-9 surveillance drone captured video of the Iranian warship’s encounter with the oil tanker. Footage released by the Navy shows multiple flashes popping near the Richmond Voyager — what officials described as “ricocheted rounds” above the commercial vessel.Additional imagery released by the Navy purports to show ammunition fragments recovered from the Richmond Voyager.
The incident occurred in international waters, more than 20 miles off the coast of Muscat, Oman’s capital, as the Richmond Voyager headed toward the Arabian Sea, the Navy said. The McFaul responded about three hours earlier to a similar incident involving a separate Iranian military vessel that had approached a commercial oil tanker U.S. officials identified as the TRF Moss. That incident, also occurred in international waters, the Navy said. The Moss is registered in the Marshall Islands.
U.S. military officials said that, beginning in May, they had increased the frequency of naval and air patrols in the region following a rise in the number of ship seizures by Iran. The Navy’s release said that, since 2021, “Iran has harassed, attacked or seized nearly 20 internationally flagged merchant vessels, presenting a clear threat to regional maritime security and the global economy.”
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