TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a strongly-worded statement on Tuesday denouncing the US seizure of an Iranian vessel in the Sea of Oman as “a terrorist act”.
US troops attacked the Iranian container ship Touska on Sunday, which was sailing toward Iran through the Sea of Oman. US Marines, deploying from the USS Tripoli amphibious assault ship by helicopter, boarded the vessel and seized it.
President Donald Trump said the ship was seized as part of his self-imposed naval blockade on Iranian ports.
“This action, accompanied by the intimidation of the ship’s sailors and crew, as well as their families, constitutes piracy and a terrorist act…and violates the fundamental principles and rules of the UN Charter and international law,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry statement said, calling for their immediate release.
It added that the measure is a violation of the two-week ceasefire reached between Tehran and Washington on April 8 and amounts to “an act of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The ministry demanded that “international bodies and responsible governments strongly condemn and respond decisively to the United States’ criminal action against international commercial shipping.”
The statement added: “Iran will use all its capacities to defend Iran’s national interests and security, and to safeguard the rights and dignity of its people. It is clear that the United States bears full responsibility for any further escalation of the situation in the region.”
On Monday, Iran’s military also denounced the seizure of the Iranian vessel.
The spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which coordinates operations between Iran’s Army and the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), following the joint US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28, warned that Iran will deal decisively with the American “aggressor forces”.
Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari said, however, that due to the presence of several family members of the ship’s crew — whose lives and safety were at constant risk — Iranian armed forces faced certain limitations.
“Given the current situation, once the safety of the families and crew of the vessel targeted by American aggression is ensured, the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will take the necessary action against the terrorist US Army,” Zolfaghari said.
The US imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports days after the two-week ceasefire. Trump says the blockade will remain in place until Tehran reaches a deal with Washington.
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