US Central Command said on Tuesday that its forces boarded and then released a commercial ship in the Arabian Sea, as the US continues to enforce the blockade on Iranian ports, the main impediment to US-Iran peace talks.
“Earlier today in the Arabian Sea, US Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit boarded M/V Blue Star III, a commercial ship suspected of attempting to transit to Iran in violation of the US blockade of Iranian ports,” CENTCOM said in a post on X that included a video of the boarding.
“US forces released the vessel after conducting a search and confirming the ship’s voyage would not include an Iranian port call,” the US military command added.
So far, the US has seized at least three ships as part of its enforcement of the blockade, including two that were boarded in the Indian Ocean and one that was fired on and seized by US forces in the Gulf of Oman. Iran has maintained it won’t hold more negotiations with the US as long as it continues the blockade, which Tehran views as a ceasefire violation since it’s an act of war.
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the US ship seizures as piracy. “This is the outright legalization of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas. Welcome to the return of the pirates — only now, they operate with government-issued warrants, sail under official flags, and call their plunder “law enforcement,” the ministry’s spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, wrote on X.
“The United States must be held fully accountable for this brazenly lawless behavior, which strikes at the heart of international law & international free trade, and threatens the basic principles of maritime security,” he added.
While a few dozen ships have made it through the US blockade, data show that Iran’s oil exports have fallen sharply since the US began its enforcement.
