Iran's state-run broadcaster reported today that an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman was confiscated by US forces and was being led to another oil tanker in order to empty its contents. However, according to an Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting report, members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy helicoptered onto the Iranian tanker and took control of it. 

The report said that US helicopters and warships pursued the Iranian tanker but were unsuccessful in taking control of it. The Iranian tanker is now in Iranian waters. The US Navy told Western media that it had seen the reports of the incident but did not have any information to share.

Tasnim News Agency wrote that the “situation is that of a failed piracy.” It added that despite US pressures to sanction Iranian oil and decrease the country’s oil exports, Iran has been able to increase its exports. The article said that the confrontation between Iran and the United States is a sign of Iran’s increase in oil exports and the failed policies of the Joe Biden administration to increase pressure on Iran. 

"There is a new wave of exports” with Ebrahim Raisi's administration, said the article, adding that the Biden administration was unable to convince buyers of Iranian oil to decrease their imports and therefore has resorted to piracy to carry out its objectives.