The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) thanked members of the Iranian navy forces one week after Tehran claimed that it thwarted a US attempt to confiscate Iranian oil. 

Hossein Salami, head of the IRGC, said that the incident was a “humiliation for an empire on the decline.” He said that while the encounter was limited in scope, the “range of humiliation” for the United States was much wider, adding that the incident will be recorded as a historical event along other great dates in history.

On Nov. 3, Iran claimed that a US ship had attempted to confiscate an Iranian oil tanker. As part of actions against the Iranian government and as part of their sanctions program against Iran selling its oil, the United States has confiscated Iranian tankers in the past. Iran claimed that the United States Navy was preparing to empty the contents of the tanker onto another ship but were thwarted by members of Iran’s IRGC naval forces. However, shortly after the Iranian claims were made, Washington denied any encounter with Iranian forces during that time. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby called it “absolutely, totally false and untrue.” 

Perhaps for domestic political reasons or ahead of a major negotiation on the nuclear file, Iran is still insisting that the incident took place. Salami even said that if the United States had a single positive action in the encounter, they would publish the video of it. Iran itself, despite showing video footage of previous encounters in the Persian Gulf and other waters in the region, has not shown any footage either.