What after Iranian-American Cold War in Sea of Oman and Gulf of Aden?
SANAA, Nov. 04 (YPA) – The battle of the Iranian-American mutual escalation has moved to the waters of the Sea of Oman and the Gulf of Aden.
Oil tankers, passing through this sensitive pivotal corridor, represented an important arena for what could be described as an increasing “bone-breaking battle” between the two sides.
The conflict between Tehran and Washington has moved from the fields of media, politics and nuclear negotiations to the most important commercial shipping line in the world.
In this regard, Tehran announced today, Wednesday, that it thwarted an American attempt to seize an oil tanker carrying Iranian oil in the Sea of Oman.
Iran confirmed that the Revolutionary Guards Navy managed to recover an oil shipment that the Americans tried to confiscate in the Sea of Oman.
Hours after this announcement, Iranian television published scenes that it said were Revolutionary Guard boats chasing “boats and a warship carrying the American flag.”
The Iranian navy indicated that “the US forces tried again to block the tanker’s path using helicopters and a warship, but they failed again.”
According to Iran’s Press TV, the tanker, which US forces tried to intercept, is now in Iran’s territorial waters.
For its part, the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, denied recording any incident between the US and Iranian sides in the past days.
A spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet, Tim Hawkins, said that “no unsafe or unprofessional dealings with the US Navy have occurred during the past 48 hours.”
However, ‘Newsweek’ magazine confirmed that the Central Command of the US Army had learned about the disappearance of an American ship in the Gulf of Oman.
Iran’s announcement that its boats were able to thwart an American attempt to pirate one of its oil tankers is not the first naval battle between Tehran and Washington in the Gulf waters and the Arabian Sea.
It is noteworthy that this is the third incident in less than a month that Iran has announced. Earlier, Tehran announced that it had thwarted a pirate attack on an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden before it entered the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
In the middle of last month, the Iranian naval force announced that it had responded to a piracy operation targeting two Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Aden, and on that day described the incident as “maritime terrorism.”
Last May, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards rejected a claim by the US Navy that Iranian speedboats approaching rapidly in the Strait of Hormuz provoked a tense confrontation with US naval vessels in the strait.
The escalation of the naval escalation battle between Tehran and Washington in the most important oil transportation line in the world confirms that the next stage will witness more escalation and provocation between the two naval powers in the waters of the Gulf and the Arabian Sea.
© YPA