Iran releases video of their soldiers seizing an oil tanker and training machine guns on two US destroyers that came to the scene but didn’t intervene: Another US warship is swarmed by Iranian drones
- The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claims it seized an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman to thwart US efforts to take over the ship
- Dramatic video footage shows Iranian troops pointing machine guns at massive US destroyer ships, which observed the scene but did not intervene
- Iranian drones reportedly approached the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship Essex in the Strait of Hormuz in an ‘unsafe and unprofessional’ manner
- Iran says the oil vessel is now anchored in its waters
- The latest scene comes as tensions between US and Iran intensify
Iran released a video Wednesday of their soldiers seizing a Vietnam-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman and their troops training machine guns on two US destroyers that were deployed to the scene but did not intervene.
The dramatic takeover happened last week as tension between the countries intensifies, and reports of Iranian drones approaching a US warship in the Strait of Hormuz surfaced.
The Iranian government said in a statement Wednesday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was foiling a US attempt to seize an Iranian oil tanker.
US officials denied Iran’s account, and said America did not try to take over the vessel, Reuters reported.
Sources said in reality, the Iranian forces took control of the Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker MV Southys on October 24 at gunpoint and still holds the vessel off Bandar Abbas.
U.S. forces had monitored the seizure, but ultimately didn’t take action as the vessel went into Iranian waters.
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran said in a statement that Americans ‘seized an Iranian oil tanker in the Sea of Oman, transferred its oil to another tanker, and taken the tanker to an unknown place.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps troops trained their guns on a massive US warship as they took over an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman
Not far from the Gulf of Oman, Iranian drones reportedly approached a US warship in an ‘unsafe and unprofessional’ manner in the Straight of Hormuz
‘The IRGC forces in a heliborne operation took control of the tanker. Then the American forces pursued the tanker by helicopters and warships but failed to capture it.’
Video footage of the takeover shows gun-toting IRGC troops landing a helicopter on the tanker and storming out to seize control of the oil carrier.
Another video showed the IRGC canvasing the waters in catamarans as troops pointed their machine guns on the US’s massive warship, which dwarfed Iran’s vessels.
A Reuters report Wednesday indicated that Iranian drones had approached the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship Essex in the Strait of Hormuz.
The drones had ‘unsafe and unprofessional interactions with the USS Essex warship,’ in the past 24 hours, Reuters reporter Idrees Ali said Wednesday morning on Twitter.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said Sunday that Iran will pay ‘economically’ if they do not resume negotiations on the nuclear deal.
Iranian troops are seen loading into a helicopter as they prepare to seize control of the tanker
Once they land on the vessel, they survey the grounds with guns drawn
A giant US warship dwarfs the Iranian military’s catamaran votes, but does not intervene
The Iranian government said in a statement Wednesday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was foiling a US attempt to seize an Iranian oil tanker
The president’s comments came after Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Sunday morning that the US. isn’t ruling out taking military action against Iran should they balk at nuclear talks.
‘With regard to the issue of how we’re going to respond to actions taken by them against the interest of the United States, whether they’re drone strikes or anything else, is that we’re going to respond, we’re going to continue to respond,’ Biden said, without going into any specifics.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, more commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal or JCPOA, was reached in 2015 and the Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from the agreement in 2018.
President Joe Biden said Sunday that Iran will pay ‘economically’ if they do not resume negotiations on the nuclear deal
Numerous Iranian drones reportedly approached the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship Essex in the Strait of Hormuz
But the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said Wednesday that attempts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will fail unless Biden can guarantee that the U.S. will not again walk away from an agreement,
The president previously said the U.S. would only renege on a deal if Iran did not meet its commitments.
But Ali Shamkhani, one of the country’s most senior security figures who is seen as a modernizer and moderate, suggested that was not good enough and that talks would only succeed if Biden could guarantee he would not abandon a deal.
‘The U.S. President, lacking authority, is not ready to give guarantees. If the current status quo continues, the result of negotiations is clear,’ he wrote in a tweet.
Iran and six world powers began talks in Vienna in April to reinstate the deal, which President Donald Trump abandoned three years ago.
They were suspended after anti-Western hardliner Ebrahim Raisi won presidential elections in June.
But negotiations are expected to resume later this month.
Biden and three European leaders signaled that they were ready to return to the 2015 deal, if Iran limited its nuclear program and opened itself up to Inspections.
The U.S. amphibious assault vessel Essex off Sasebo is shown leaving Japan in 2001
The oil tanker is now in Iranian waters, according to the Iranian government
But their joint statement also made clear they would not ease sanctions until Tehran had begun drawing down on work that the international community believes is directed a developing nuclear weapons.
‘This will only be possible if Iran changes course,’ Biden, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a joint statement.
‘We call upon Raisi to seize this opportunity and return to a good faith effort to conclude our negotiations as a matter of urgency.
‘That is the only sure way to avoid a dangerous escalation, which is not in any country’s interest.’
The latest events happened near the anniversary of the November 4, 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Iran by Iranian revolution supporters, which lasted 444 days.
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