Iran slams US seizure of two oil tankers as ‘piracy’

Iran has condemned the US seizure of two tankers carrying Iranian oil in the Indian Ocean, calling the confiscation of 3.8mn barrels of crude an example of “US addiction to lawlessness” and the “outright legalisation of piracy” as Washington presses ahead with its naval blockade, IRNA reported on April 29.

WHAT: Iran has condemned the US seizure of two tankers, the M/T Majestic and M/T Tifani, carrying a combined 3.8mn barrels of Iranian oil in the Indian Ocean.

WHY: Tehran says the seizures, carried out under US domestic warrants, amount to state-sponsored piracy and a flagrant violation of the UN Charter.

WHAT NEXT: The blockade will remain in place until a deal is reached to end the US-Israeli war on Iran, with Washington preparing for an extended naval operation rather than resuming bombing.

The reaction came after Jeanine Pirro, attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote in a post on X on April 24 that US forces had seized the tankers M/T Majestic and M/T Tifani, each carrying 1.9mn barrels of oil, based on seizure warrants submitted by her office.

Pirro said she would “continue to relentlessly investigate, track, and pursue these cases, using every lawful authority to hold sanctioned actors… and to deny them of any ability to profit from illicit maritime activity.”

Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said in a letter to the UN Security Council on April 29 that “the piracy-style” seizure of the two vessels was “another clear example of US addiction to lawlessness and constitutes a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, in particular Article 2(4).”

“Such actions are identical to state-sponsored piracy and terrorism, carried out under the guise of domestic processes that have no standing under international law,” Iravani added.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei also hit back, sharing a screenshot of Pirro’s post and describing the seizures as the “outright legalisation of piracy and armed robbery” on the high seas.

“Welcome to the return of the pirates — only now, they operate with government-issued warrants, sail under official flags, and call their plunder ‘law enforcement,’” Baqaei wrote on X on April 28.

The 280,000 deadweight tonne very large crude carrier (VLCC), also known as Phonix and listed under IMO number 9198317, was identified by maritime databases.

The United States has intercepted multiple ships since imposing a blockade on maritime traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports on April 13, a move aimed at squeezing Tehran’s oil exports and trade flows.

US President Donald Trump has said the blockade will remain in place “until there is a deal” to end the war that the United States and Israel launched against Iran in late February.

Trump has instructed aides to prepare for an extended naval blockade, signalling Washington intends to keep up the pressure by tightening economic restrictions rather than resuming bombing suspended under a ceasefire agreement reached on April 8.

The vessel was added to the US Office of Foreign Asset Control's (OFAC) Iran sanctions list in December 2024 for transporting Iranian oil as part of the Vision Ship Management fleet.

The seizure follows Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on April 23 and the US seizures of the VLCC Tifani on April 21 and container ship Touska on April 19. Majestic X was boarded in a location close to the Tifani seizure point in the Indian Ocean.

"International waters cannot be used as a shield by sanctioned actors. The Department of War will continue to deny illicit actors and their vessels freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain," the department said.

US seizure of vessels at sea had been uncommon until last year, when the Trump administration began increasing enforcement action against ships sanctioned for carrying Venezuelan oil.

Iran has repeatedly stated that the US naval blockade of Iranian ports is a fundamental obstacle to negotiations and has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to hostile shipping. Parliament Vice Speaker Hamidreza Haji Babaei said on April 22 that the first revenue from the newly introduced Hormuz tolls had been deposited at the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).

China dispatched three warships to the Gulf of Oman on April 20 in response to the Touska seizure, describing the US action as a "coercive interception."