The United States Department of Defense has announced that US military forces have detained the M/T Tifani, an oil tanker sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude, in the Indian Ocean. The operation was carried out by the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) as a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran was about to expire and the prospect of renewed negotiations remained precarious.
In a social media statement, the Pentagon described the boarding as conducted "without incident" and asserted that the US is determined "to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran – anywhere they operate". An unnamed US defense official told The Associated Press that the tanker was captured in the Bay of Bengal between India and Southeast Asia and was carrying Iranian oil, with the US military to decide in coming days whether to tow it to the US or transfer it to another country.
Maritime tracking data from Marine Traffic indicated the vessel's last signal was detected midway between Sri Lanka and the Strait of Malacca, heading toward Singapore. According to energy intelligence firm Kpler, the tanker loaded approximately 2 million barrels of crude from Iran's Kharg Island in early April and has in recent years conducted numerous ship-to-ship transfers off Singapore and Malaysia, frequently shuttling between that region and destinations including Iran and China.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, in an interview with state television, condemned the seizure as "piracy at sea and state terrorism", arguing that such actions call into question Washington's purported seriousness in negotiations. Concurrently, US President Donald Trump declared that the US military is "raring to go" if an agreement is not reached, highlighting the escalating rhetoric.
This incident occurred amid lingering doubts over whether a second round of talks between Tehran and Washington would proceed in Pakistan, following an initial round that ended on April 12 without breakthrough. Pakistan's mediation efforts grew more urgent as the fragile ceasefire neared expiration. Meanwhile, maritime data from Lloyd's List Intelligence reportedly showed that at least 26 vessels from Iran's so-called "ghost fleet" have circumvented the US blockade imposed last week, underscoring the challenges in enforcing the regime's sanctions.
Source: www.aljazeera.com