Iran’s IRGC seizes South Korean tanker in naval piracy
The IRGC also behaves more like a pirate navy than an actual navy, harassing ships, threatening others and sometimes outright stealing and hijacking vessels.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANOil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz(photo credit: REUTERS/HAMAD I MOHAMMED)
Hours after the US said it would turn around the US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its strike group, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was already hunting for vessels to harass. They wanted to find a ship to seize, much like they had mined six ships in the Gulf of Oman in May and June 2019, seized a British ship in the summer of 2019, harassed US vessels in the first months of 2020 and apparently mined an Iraqi ship last month. They found the South Korean vessel Hankuk Chemi, which was bound for Fujairah port, and seized it. It may have been seized to pressure the US or to get money from South Korea or harass ships off the coast of the UAE.The IRGC operates its own navy, like the IRGC in general has sponged up most of the responsibilities of Iran’s armed services. The IRGC also behaves more like a pirate navy than an actual navy, harassing ships, threatening others and sometimes outright stealing and hijacking vessels. For instance, in July 2020, the Gulf Sky tanker appeared to disappear from waters off the UAE in the Gulf of Oman. It then turned up near Iran with sailors claiming they had been hijacked. Iran also seeks to get around US sanctions through sending vessels, often in clandestine ways, to Venezuela. The country does not behave like a normal sea power and observe laws of the sea.Iran is also open about how it operates. When its vessels are seized abroad, it is willing to hijack other vessels. It purposely mined a Japanese ship when Japan’s leader was in Iran in June 2019. Today’s grabbing of the South Korean ship was done in the open and Iran’s Tasnim news is bragging about “seizing” it. Photos have been released. Iran pretends it is taking the ship due to pollution and oil spills. There is no evidence of this. Iran doesn’t even police its own tanker fleet for pollution and oil leaks. Iran regularly pollutes its own waters through naval drills, even sinking a mock US carrier it has built to show off its capabilities. The goal now of Iran is to ratchet up tensions and show that it can seize ships and threaten shipping in the major waterway. Iran has threatened in the past to close the Straits of Hormuz. It often targets ships off the coast of the UAE. This is on purpose. It wants to harass the UAE and make it appear less safe.Iran has excoriated Abu Dhabi for making peace with Israel. Tensions have also increased between Bahrain and Qatar after incidents in the sea and air. Bahrain has also made peace with Israel while Qatar is closer to Iran and Turkey.The South Korean tanker is at Bandar Abbas now, according to reports. Others suggest Iran wants to blackmail South Korea into paying it some seized assets. Iran regularly takes foreigners hostage in order to change them, including illegally taking hostage foreign academics. The pretense of “pollution” will be quickly forgotten when the regime, which lies to international media as a norm, changes its tune.
