After a week of insisting it merely assisted a vessel in distress by bringing it to a safe harbor, Iran on Thursday admitted its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States – seized a foreign oil tanker and took its crew prisoner.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi denied on Friday any military drone was lost recently and suggested the U.S. instead could have downed its own “by mistake.”
Iran’s state TV claims marine elements of the Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a “foreign vessel” with 12 crew Thursday morning on accusations of smuggling oil.
A report by the Iranian government Wednesday said Britain violated international law this month when it captured the Grace 1 oil tanker, which was taken in international waters off the coast of Gibraltar.
Britain’s Royal Navy is increasing the size of its deployment in the Persian Gulf, with preparations underway to send another warship and an auxiliary support vessel to the region following the attempted hijacking of a British merchantman by Iranian gunboats.
Japan says it has no plans to deploy its military to the Strait of Hormuz, despite reports the United States could have suggested a coalition of allies in the shipping channel that includes Tokyo.
BRUSSELS — European Union nations were looking to deescalate tensions in the Persian Gulf area on Monday and call on Iran to stick to the 2015 nuclear deal, despite the pullout of the United States from the accord and the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
The UK has brought forward deployment plans for the destroyer HMS Duncan and is rushing it to the disputed Gulf region, the Ministry of Defence confirmed Friday.
A British frigate positioned itself between three Iranian Revolutionary Guard gunboats and an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf overnight Wednesday, forcing the Iranian craft to withdraw.
Iran’s “filthy enemies” in the U.S. military should gird themselves for attack by deadly “secret weapons,” an Iranian military commander warned Wednesday.
Iran’s parliament introduced a bill on Tuesday to begin collecting a toll from foreign ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz to compensate Iran for the expense of providing “security” for them.
President Donald Trump set demands for Iran Monday as the rogue nation continues to challenge the United States and raise tensions in the region. “The U.S. request for Iran is very simple – No Nuclear Weapons and No Further Sponsoring
Tehran — A minister from Britain’s Foreign Office arrived in Tehran on Sunday and met with a top diplomat from Iran’s foreign ministry amid escalating regional tensions, state-run IRIB news agency reported.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an emergency order on Thursday night banning some U.S.-based air carriers from flying through Iranian airspace, including parts of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Several international carriers quickly announced precautions of their own.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) released vision Friday morning that confirms a U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (or BAMS-D) ISR Global Hawk drone was lost to an Iranian surface-to-air missile.
American-registered aircraft were barred from entering Iranian-administered airspace in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman on Friday, just 24-hours after the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) downed a U.S. military surveillance drone.
A U.S. general said an attack by Iran on a U.S. drone conducting a surveillance mission was “an unprovoked attack.”
The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday his forces shot down an American reconnaissance drone in international airspace to send a “clear, decisive, firm, and accurate message” to the United States and boasted his forces are “completely ready for war.”
A senior adviser to the Iranian government said on Friday that war is “inevitable” if the United States does not lift sanctions against Iran.
Japan will not send Self-Defense Force personnel to respond to attacks on a Japanese-operated oil tanker in the Middle East, the country’s defense minister said Friday.
Elements of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet were called to assist two oil tankers early Thursday morning, in distress after a “reported attack on tankers in the Gulf of Oman.”
Iran’s ambassador to Britain lashed out at the United States on Tuesday, accusing it of dragging Iran “into an unnecessary war” in the Middle East.
Spanish Navy frigate ESPS Méndez Núñez broke away from the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its carrier strike group (CSG) Tuesday as it entered the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tension between the U.S. and Iran.
Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that two of its oil tankers suffered “significant damage” from sabotage attacks off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) near the Strait of Hormuz. The attacks reportedly also damaged two ships from other nations, one of them registered to Norway.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday warned Iran that it will face a “swift and decisive U.S. response” if it attacks American interests or directs its proxy forces to do so.
Iran successfully test fired what it claimed is a cruise missile on Sunday during naval exercises near the contested Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s state media.
A close maritime encounter between the Iran Revolutionary Guard’s navy and the USS Theodore Roosevelt earlier this year was captured on video, according to Iran’s Press TV service.
Iran held its latest in a string of threats and military muscle stretches in the Persian Gulf on Friday, as an assortment of jet fighters conducted a “show of strength” aerial drill, to be followed by a naval exercise on Saturday.
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s official IRNA news agency says the country’s air force is carrying out a drill near the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, the passageway for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea.
Gen. Rasoul Sanayee Raad, deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), on Wednesday became the latest Iranian military commander to threaten military action against the United States and confidently predict Iran would emerge victorious from such a conflict.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday evening dismissed Iran’s claim to control the Strait of Hormuz and the entire Persian Gulf. Pompeo promised that the United States would continue to protect freedom of navigation in those international waterways.
Iran on Monday ratcheted up both its threats and its pleas for rescue from American sanctions, belligerently claiming complete control of the Persian Gulf and seeking to expel the U.S. Navy while demanding European nations promise to alleviate sanctions against its banking and oil industries.
IIran has been looking to China to salvage what remains of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday re-emphasized the need for China’s help.
United States officials told media Wednesday that the naval fleet of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is planning to place 100 gunboats in the Persian Gulf within the next 48 hours to practice “swarm” tactics, an exercise that is usually reserved for the fall.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer of an unconditional meeting. “Certainly, the decisions of the new U.S. administration are fleeting,” he sneered, implying that Trump was not serious about offering to meet with him.
Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz – a key Gulf passage for shipments of commodities – over Washington threatening to sanction any country that fails to stop importing oil from the Islamic Republic by November 4.
The Iranian Army’s Ground Force Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari met with a delegation from China’s Ministry of National Defense Tuesday to discuss ways to boost defense ties between Tehran and Beijing. Both parties appeared to agree that the United States poses “the biggest threat to humanity.”
An Iranian military vessel confronted an American warship in the Gulf and warned it to stay away from a damaged Iranian fishing boat, Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, but the U.S. Navy denied any direct contact with Iranian forces.
It has long been obvious that North Korea shares missile technology with Iran, but Fox News reports the Pentagon is investigating military ties between the two belligerent nations with increased vigor after Iran’s recent test launch of a submarine missile.
On Tuesday, the aircraft carrier USS George W. Bush entered the Strait of Hormuz from the Indian Ocean, a vital waterway that handles about 30 percent of the world’s oil shipping. As it has done so often over the past few years, Iran sent a swarm of speedboats to harass the carrier.
