The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s navy on Wednesday said that two ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz have been seized.
According to shipping data from Marine Traffic, one ship, a Librarian-flagged container vessel named EPAMINONDAS, was en route to Gujarat in India.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval force this morning identified and stopped in the Strait of Hormuz two violating ships. The two offending ships… were seized by the IRGC’s naval forces and directed to the Iranian coast,” AFP quoted the IRGC as saying in a statement.
The second ship has been identified as a Panama-flagged container ship named MSC-FRANCESCA, which was headed to Sri Lanka’s Hambantota.
Why did Iran seize a container ship headed to India?
The IRGC Navy Command gave a reason for seizing the two vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, including the one bound for India. According to the statement carried by Press TV, the IRGC said that the two ships “endangered maritime security by operating without the necessary permits and tampering with navigation systems.”
“Two violating ships, “MSC-FRANCESCA” (linked to the Zionist regime) and “EPAMINODES,” which endangered maritime security by operating without the necessary permits and tampering with navigation systems, were seized by the IRGC Navy and directed to the coast of Iran,” the IRGC statement read.
“Disruption of order and safety in the Strait of Hormuz is our red line,” the statement added.
The IRGC Navy further emphasised that it maintains “intelligent control” over the strait and reiterated that any actions deemed to violate Iran’s maritime regulations or disrupt safe passage through the waterway would be closely monitored.
“The IRGC Navy reiterates that any action to disrupt the implementation of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s announced rules for traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as any activity contrary to the safe passage of this strategic waterway, will be continuously monitored by the IRGC Navy, and violators will be dealt with decisively and legally,” the statement added.
Details on the seized ship that was headed to India
According to the MarineTraffic website, the ship headed to India is EPAMINONDAS. It is a container ship sailing under the flag of Liberia and was headed to Gujarat’s Mudra port from Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Dubai.
The length overall (LOA) of the vessel is 299.9 meters. The ship’s width is 42.8 meters, according to data from Marinetraffic.
The maritime incidents come at a critical diplomatic juncture. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump used social media to announce an indefinite extension of the two-week ceasefire with Iran, citing a request from mediator Pakistan and the need for Iran’s “fractured” leadership to submit a unified peace proposal.
However, the US has maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports, a move Tehran officials have characterised as “no different from bombardment,” leading to the current military response in the Strait.
