IRGC Commander Warns US Against Posing Threat To Iranian Vessels

The deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) has issued a veiled warning to the US Navy days after it seized an Iranian oil tanker.

Ali Fadavi said if America and its allies pose a threat to Iranian vessels the Islamic Republic will be hard on them.

Speaking on Sunday, he said that “all the enemies admit that the power of the Islamic Revolution has defeated them, and they do not dare to pose a threat when Iran is concerned.”

His comments come as sources told Reuters last week that the US confiscated an Iranian oil tanker at sea in a sanctions enforcement operation.

Iran seized another oil-laden tanker in retaliation on Thursday, at least five days after the US Navy seizure, according to maritime security firm Ambrey.

Well-placed sources who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter said Washington took control of the oil cargo aboard the Marshall Islands tanker Suez Rajan after securing an earlier court order. The tanker's last reported position was near southern Africa on April 22, ship tracking data showed.

The US Navy said Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Oman on April 27.

In the latest escalation in a series of attacks on commercial vessels since 2019, Iran seized a second oil tanker on Wednesday in Persian Gulf waters.

However, TankersTrackers.com said the seizure of the Panama-flagged vessel Niovi was “ entirely staged”, “given the tanker’s history of receiving Iranian oil during the sanctions era as well as being currently empty of cargo”.

In 2020, Washington confiscated four cargoes of Iranian fuel aboard foreign ships that were bound for Venezuela and transferred them with the help of undisclosed foreign partners onto two other ships which then sailed to the US.