ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iranian military on Thursday released video footage it claimed shows its forces raiding a vessel in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a day after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had intercepted two ships and diverted them into Iranian territorial waters. The video comes as Tehran also noted that reopening the strategic waterway “is not possible” for now, citing the US maritime blockade on its ports.
Published by Sabrin Fa, a Telegram channel linked to the Iran-led ‘Axis of Resistance,’ the video shows an Iranian-flagged motorboat carrying armed personnel boarding what appears to be a cargo vessel. Two ships are visible in the footage with the hull markings Epaninondas and MSC Francesca.
A day earlier, the IRGC said in a statement that its “naval forces this morning [Wednesday] identified and stopped two violating ships in the Strait of Hormuz,” adding that the vessels “were seized and directed to the Iranian coast.”
The statement named the ships as the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and the Liberia-flagged Epaninondas, which the IRGC alleged were linked to the “Zionist [Israeli] regime.” The Iranian military also warned against violating the regulations it has imposed on passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Britain’s naval monitor, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), on Wednesday reported three maritime security incidents near the Strait, including one in which a container ship said it was approached and fired upon by an IRGC gunboat. “While the attack caused heavy damage to the vessel’s bridge, the crew was reported safe and no fires or environmental damage occurred,” the monitor said.
Shortly after, the UKMTO reported a second incident, followed by a third in which the master of an outbound cargo ship said the vessel had come under fire. In that case, no damage was reported and all crew members were confirmed safe and accounted for.
However, the British maritime monitor did not specify whether the vessels that came under fire were the Epaninondas and the MSC Francesca.
The developments come as Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that “reopening the Strait of Hormuz is not possible” in light of Washington’s maritime embargo on Iran, which came into effect on April 13.
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also described the “blockading” of Iranian ports as “an act of war,” warning that Iran “knows how to neutralize restrictions, how to defend its interests, and how to resist bullying.”