Iran Blockade: IRGC Attacks Three Container Ships in Strait of Hormuz
By OLIVER JJ LANE
At least three container ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran this morning, with a Royal Navy office reporting “heavy damage” to at least one, and Tehran claiming ships had been seized and taken into Iranian waters “in order to examine the cargo and documents”.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has opened fire on three container ships attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, the maritime chokepoint at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, as a strained ceasefire is challenged by two mutual blockades imposed by Iran and the United States attempt to deny each other access to the critical-to-trade waterway.
Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) reports that in the early hours of Wednesday morning the Greek-owned, Liberia-flagged container ship Epaminondas was approached by an “IRGC gun boat” and fired on without warning.
The attack “caused heavy damage to the bridge”, although no injuries, fires aboard, environmental concerns were reported. “All Crew reported safe”, it was stated. London state media says it understands that the ship’s master believed he had permission to transit the Strait of Hormuz, and was ‘running dark’ — the ship’s AIS transponder being turned off to avoid attention — but was nevertheless attacked.
Prepare to Be Boarded! Vessel Possibly Tied to Iran Intercepted pic.twitter.com/XtrWxD87fk
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The UKMTO reported a second such incident involving another container ship taking place three hours later, the UAE-owned Panama-flagged Euphoria which was “fired upon” and brought to a stop. No serious damage was reported and the “crew are safe and accounted for”.
A third ship was said to have been attacked, with the BBC stating the mega-shipping-corp MSC-owned, Panama-flagged Francesca suffered “damage to the hull and accommodation” after being hailed by the IRGC and “instructed to drop anchor”.
The Times of London states these attacks were launched from small boats using infantry weapons, the ships having been hit with “gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades”, suggesting a little maritime policing could go a long way in preventing repeats of such incidents.
While Western reports note two of the ships attacked today were fired on without warning, Iranian state media claims they opened fire after ships attempting to transit the Strait ignored their orders to stop.
A Tehran state media outlet has claimed the operations against the Epaminondas and Francesca, stating the ships were attacked because they belong “to the Zionist regime”. In the case of the Epaminondas the Iranian mouthpiece asserted it was: “attempting to secretly exit the Strait of Hormuz without a license, by committing repeated violations and tampering with navigation aid systems, and jeopardizing maritime security”.
It was claimed after being seized, the vessels were brought into Iranian waters “in order to examine the cargo and documents”.
The strikes follow a warning by a Greek maritime risk management agency to ship owners to be aware of scammers posing as the Iranian government selling ‘safe passage’ through the Strait of Hormuz, with prices in cryptocurrency. It appears that at least one ship owner had fallen for such a scame in recent weeks, with Indian-owned oil tanker Sanmar Herald paying scammers for passage and then being attacked by IRGC boats.
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