Iran

Iran has hijacked yet another oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the US Navy. The Iranian media Tasnim has confirmed that the Panama-flagged oil tanker has been seized. It is the second time in a week that Iran has forced a tanker to dock in an Iranian port. The tanker “Niovi” was departing Dubai for Fujairah, both in the United Arab Emirates, when it was stopped early Wednesday by small high-speed boats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Navy. “They forced the oil tanker to change course and head for Iranian territorial waters off the coast of Bandar Abbas in Iran,” the U.S. Fifth Fleet stationed in Bahrain said in a statement.
   Iran did not elaborate on why the ship was seized, other than that it had committed something “offensive”. Six days earlier, an oil tanker flying the flag of the Marshall Islands was seized by Iran in the Gulf of Oman. According to the US Navy, Iran has harassed and attacked 15 commercial ships “in violation of international law” in the past two years. The two latest oil tankers have been diverted into Iranian waters after the West tightened sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards last week. /ritzau/AFP/