Iran boards cargo ship after warning shots
Iranian forces boarded a cargo ship flagged from the Marshall Islands that was moving into waters in the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
There are about 30 people aboard the cargo ship but no Americans, according to Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the Pentagon. An American destroyer has been dispatched to monitor the situation.
Warren said several Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vessels approached the MV Maersk Tigris as it was transiting into Iranian waters at around at 4:05 a.m. Eastern Time.
The Maersk Tigris was contacted and told to proceed further into Iranian territorial waters. When the ship’s master declined, one of the Iranian ships fired “shots across the bridge” of the cargo ship, Warren said. After the encounter, the cargo ship proceeded into Iranian waters by Larak Island. The cargo ship then put out a distress call.
At that time, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (Navcent) directed the USS Farragut destroyer to “proceed at best speed to the nearest location of the Maersk Tigris,” Warren said.
”We continue to monitor the situation,” Warren said, adding that it’s unclear where the Maersk Tigris is now located.
The incident comes at a time when the U.S. and five other world powers are attempting to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, raising the stakes for all sides.
Senate Armed Services chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Iran’s actions appear to violate international law.
”I think it’s dramatically escalatory and we need to find out exactly what’s happened here. On the face of it, it looks like it’s a gross violation of international law. But there must be a lot more here and I don’t know that yet,” McCain said.
The Pentagon treaded carefully around the question of whether a violation of shipping lanes occurred.
While a Navy spokeswoman said the deepest part of the cargo ship’s shipping route is in Iranian territorial waters, Warren said it is “a complex legal question” whether the cargo vessel was in any violation.
“This part of the Strait of Hormuz is apparently Iranian territorial waters. It’s within 12 miles of the Iranian coast,” he said. “However, because it is recognized as an international shipping lane, something called ‘innocent passage’ is applied.”
“So ships are — assuming that they abide by all the rules of the sea are according to international standards — authorized to pass through this Strait,” he said, adding it is a “heavily traveled shipping lane.”
Asked whether it was “inappropriate” for the Iranian navy to fire a shot at the Maersk Tigris, Warren responded, “It is inappropriate.”
“At first appearance, it does seems to be provocative behavior, but again, we don’t have all the facts yet. There are conditions around the process of innocent passage, so all the facts have yet to be determined,” he added.
Warren said the Pentagon was looking into whether the U.S. military — since it contributes to the defense of the Marshall Islands — is obligated to intervene on behalf of the ship.
“We do have certain obligations with the Marshall Islands and we are working through that right now,” he said.
Warren said it was unclear who owns the ship or what the cargo is.
Bard Larschan, an international lawyer and CEO of intellectual property firm Bastille, Inc., said if the cargo vessel is indeed registered in the Marshall Islands, it is “a very serious matter.”
“The Republic of the Marshall Islands is a sovereign nation,” he said. “The United States has full authority and responsibility for security and defense of the Marshall Islands.”
“It will be interesting to see how the Obama administration reacts, and whether the U.S. government will honor its treaty commitment,” he said.
The dispute comes after Iran sent a nine-ship convoy to the Gulf of Aden, in a potential attempt to resupply the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen. The U.S. sent an aircraft carrier and a destroyer to the same region.
The convoy turned around after a few days and is headed back to Iran, Warren said.
– This story was last updated at 1:50 p.m.