Yesterday, Wednesday, the United States and Iran presented two contradictory accounts about a recent incident in the Sea of Oman, where Tehran announced that it had thwarted an American attempt to confiscate Iranian oil, which Washington denied.
Iranian novel
And the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced that its forces had foiled about a week ago an American attempt to seize an oil tanker loaded with Iranian oil, at the height of tension between the two countries, which constantly exchange accusations of "provocations" in the waters of the Gulf region.
The announcement was issued on Wednesday by the Revolutionary Guards and state television, which stated that "the United States confiscated a tanker carrying Iranian oil destined for export and transferred its cargo to another tanker, and led it to an unknown destination."
"The Revolutionary Guard Navy carried out an airdrop on the tanker and confiscated it," he added, noting that "the US forces tried again to obstruct the tanker's path using helicopters and a warship, but they failed again."
The Revolutionary Guards statement confirmed that "with the timely and decisive action of the Revolutionary Guards' naval forces, the terrorist attempt of the US Navy to steal Iranian oil in the Gulf of Oman has failed."
"The tanker carrying Iranian oil docked at Bandar Abbas port on October 25," the statement added.
Iranian television broadcast a video of what it said was the process of thwarting an American attempt to confiscate Iranian oil in the Sea of Oman.
And the Iranian Fars News Agency published on its Twitter account, scenes showing a helicopter landing on board the oil tanker "Sothes", which is flying the flag of Vietnam, and masked gunmen took control of it.
Iranian scenes also show two American destroyers nearby, "USS Murphy" and "USS Salvians", with American soldiers on board watching through binoculars.
American novel
The US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) quickly denied the Iranian story, describing it as "inaccurate and false."
"I have seen the Iranian allegations...they are completely false and untrue...that is a false claim," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Kirby added, "The only detention operation that took place was carried out by Iran," noting that the US presence in the region constitutes a deterrent to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and that it is linked to supporting freedom of navigation and trade, as he described it.
The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) said that "Iranian forces took control of an oil tanker in the waters of the Gulf last week, and our navy was watching."
A US military official confirmed to Al Jazeera that the Revolutionary Guards' allegations regarding the Iranian oil tanker were not true.
The Pentagon showed Al Jazeera pictures showing that a US destroyer had spotted Iranian boats controlling the tanker "SOTHYS".
The Pentagon indicated that Iranian drones carried out unsafe flights during the exit of American military aircraft from the Strait of Hormuz, and that the American planes took appropriate protection measures until the Iranian marches left.
An official confirmed to "Newsweek" that the Pentagon did not announce Iran's seizure of an oil tanker so as not to affect the chances of nuclear talks.
The Associated Press quoted US officials as saying that Iran has been holding, since October 24, a Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman.
Data from the Marine Traffic application shows the tanker "Sothes" parked in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas since October 31.
The United States accuses Iran of circumventing the sanctions imposed on the oil sector by exporting crude to countries such as China, Venezuela and Syria, where it has announced more than once the arrest of tankers carrying Iranian oil destined for other countries.
frequent contacts
The US Navy is deployed regularly in this area of great strategic importance, especially as it constitutes an essential passage for a large proportion of oil exports to world markets.
On the seventh of last October, Iranian state television broadcast a video that it said showed Revolutionary Guard naval vessels chasing American pieces in the Gulf, without specifying the date.
The last time such an incident was announced was on May 11, when the Revolutionary Guards announced that it had warned US naval vessels after an "irresponsible" behavior, shortly after the Pentagon announced that warning fire had been fired at Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz.
In late April, the US Navy announced that Iranian attack boats approached two US ships in international waters in the northern Gulf, prompting them to fire warning fire.
The Pentagon accused Iran of continuing to practice what it described as malign activities in the Gulf waters.
Al-Jazeera correspondent in Tehran, Nour al-Din al-Daghir, explained that the Iranian and American narratives intersect in the history of the incident, and the Revolutionary Guards' control of the tanker.
On Tuesday, the Iranian navy announced that it had thwarted a piracy attempt on an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden near Bab al-Mandab, in an operation that was the second of its kind in two weeks.
Before that, Tehran announced that its forces had responded to an attempted piracy targeting two tankers in the Gulf of Aden on October 16.