Overview
- The tanker M/V Talara is anchored off Iran’s Bandar Abbas and all 21 crew members are safe, the vessel’s technical manager said.
- U.S. Central Command said IRGC forces boarded the ship by helicopter last week and diverted it into Iranian territorial waters, where it remains under control.
- CENTCOM reported its forces monitored the seizure and labeled the armed boarding a blatant violation of international law that threatens freedom of navigation.
- Columbia Shipmanagement said it lost contact with the Marshall Islands‑flagged vessel on Nov. 14 about 20 nautical miles off Khor Fakkan as it sailed from Sharjah to Singapore with high‑sulphur gasoil, with contact restored on Nov. 16.
- The incident is the first such IRGC interdiction since July and follows a period when Houthi attacks in the Red Sea had drawn U.S. naval assets to protect commercial shipping lanes.