Pick-or-Choose Your Provocation: "Harassment" in The Strait of Hormuz | Aljazeera News 05 Jun 2023

Another day, another encounter

1 information about the incident given by the UK Maritime Trade Operations, a UK military operation overseeing traffic in the region.

2 A black-and-white image taken by a US Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon that was flying overhead.

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Source: Aljazeera

US, UK navies say responded to call from ship in Strait of Hormuz

US Navy said the merchant ship was being ‘harassed’ by boats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

The US Navy released a surveillance image showing smaller boats around the commercial vessel [US Navy via AP Photo]

"The United States Navy has said its sailors and the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy came to the aid of a ship in the crucial Strait of Hormuz after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard allegedly “harassed” it.

Three fast-attack Guard vessels with armed troops on board approached the merchant ship at a close distance on Sunday afternoon, the US Navy said in a statement.

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It shared black-and-white images, which showed three small ships close to the commercial vessel, taken by a US Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon that was flying overhead.

The US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul and the Royal Navy’s frigate HMS Lancaster responded to the incident, with the Lancaster launching a helicopter.

“The situation deescalated approximately an hour later when the merchant vessel confirmed the fast-attack craft departed the scene,” the Navy said. “The merchant ship continued transiting the Strait of Hormuz without further incident.”

About 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

While the Navy did not identify the vessel involved, ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic.com analysed by The Associated Press showed the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Venture erratically changed course as it travelled through the strait at the time of the incident.

(Al Jazeera)

Its location also matched information about the incident given by the UK Maritime Trade Operations, a UK military operation overseeing traffic in the region. The vessel also resembled the images released by the Navy.

The ship’s registered manager, Trust Bulkers of Athens, Greece, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iranian state media and the Revolutionary Guard did not immediately acknowledge the incident. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.