( Reuters) – The U.S. military on Wednesday stated Iranian forces quickly boarded a Liberian-flagged oil near the Strait of Hormuz, increasing tensions on the planet’s busiest oil waterway.
Sources stated the Iranian action was retaliation versus the Greek owner of a few of the vessels that were bring fuel to Venezuela.
The freights are covered by a U.S. warrant for seizure and the tankers are sailing to the United States.
Hormuz has been the website of lots of confrontations between regional and international powers over the last decades.
Below are information about the Strait:
WHAT IS THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ?
The strait lies between Oman and Iran
It links the Gulf with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabian Sea beyond
It is 21 miles (33 km) wide at its narrowest point, with the shipping lane just two miles (3 km) broad in either direction
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have looked for to find other routes to bypass the Strait, including structure pipelines
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
In 2018, 21 million barrels each day (bpd) of oil flowed through it, or the equivalent of about 21%of global petroleum liquids need at the time, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says.
OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, Kuwait and Iraq export the majority of their crude via the Strait
Qatar, the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, sends out practically all its LNG through the Strait
POLITICAL TENSIONS
The United States has actually enforced sanctions on Iran targeted at halting its oil exports
Iran has threatened to disrupt oil deliveries through the Strait of Hormuz if the United States attempts to strangle its economy
The U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, is tasked with safeguarding commercial shipping in the area
MAJOR PAST INCIDENTS
1980-1988 – Throughout the Iran-Iraq war, the two sides sought to disrupt each other’s oil exports in what is called the Tanker War
July 1988 – U.S. warship Vincennes shoots down an Iranian airliner, eliminating all 290 aboard, in what Washington states was a mishap and Tehran says was a deliberate attack
Early 2008 – The United States says Iranian vessels threaten 3 U.S. Navy ships in the Strait
July 2010 – Japanese oil tanker M Star is assaulted in the Strait – a group called Abdullah Azzam Brigades connected to al Qaeda claims duty
January 2012 – Iran threatens to obstruct the Strait in retaliation for U.S. and European sanctions targeted at suppressing Tehran’s nuclear programme
May 2015 – Iranian ships take a container ship in the Strait and fire chance ats a Singapore-flagged tanker that Iran states harmed an oil platform
July 2018 – President Hassan Rouhani hints Iran could interrupt oil trade through the Strait in action to U.S. calls to decrease Iran’s oil exports to absolutely no
May 2019 – Four ships, consisting of 2 Saudi oil tankers, are assaulted in the Gulf just outside the Strait. U.S. authorities blame Iran, Tehran rejects the charges
June 2019 – 2 tankers are assaulted south of the Strait which Washington blames on Iran and Tehran rejects
June 2019 – Iran shoots down a U.S. drone
July 2019 – The USS Fighter destroys an Iranian drone in the Strait after it threatens the U.S. Navy ship however Iran rejects it has lost a drone
July 2019 – Iran seizes British-operated oil tanker Stena Impero in the Strait
Sources: Reuters/Refinitiv/Energy Info Administration
Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar; editing by Barbara Lewis