[ad_1]
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard seized a South Korean oil tanker and its crew on Monday amid escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington. The Iranian action comes in response to a decision by some South Korean banks to block huge amounts of Iranian money from their accounts, in accordance with US sanctions, according to Reuters and CNN.
Seoul has confirmed that the ship was seized by the Iranian authorities off the coast of Oman. South Korean authorities have demanded the immediate release of the crew and the tanker.
According to Iranian media and state television, the tanker was captured for “polluting the waters of the Gulf with chemicals.”
The semi-official Tasnim news agency published photos of several Revolutionary Guard vessels escorting the Hankuk Chemi tanker, said to have 7,200 tons of ethyl alcohol on board.
The 20 crew members of the South Korean ship, including citizens of South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar, are now detained by the Iranian authorities.
United States Navy officials said they were aware of the incident and were monitoring the situation.
The incident also occurred in the middle of an expected visit by the South Korean Vice Foreign Minister to Tehran. The issue of Iranian money of $ 7 billion, which was blocked by South Korean banks as a result of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration after the United States unilaterally abandoned the nuclear deal, would also be raised during the talks.
Also on the same day, Iran announced that it would resume enriching uranium to 20%.
The seizure of the South Korean tanker is the second challenge for the Tehran regime after it also announced on Monday that it will resume its activity of enriching uranium to 20%, in violation of the nuclear agreement signed in 2015, but of which the main signatory, States United withdrew during the presidency of Donald Trump.
This decision has once again fueled fears that Iran will try to develop a nuclear weapon again.
“A few minutes ago, the 20% enriched uranium production process started at the Fordow complex,” said Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabeie.
The decision is the latest in a series of violations of the international agreement by Iran, which began with violations of the agreement in response to the unilateral withdrawal of the United States and the reintroduction of American sanctions against Tehran.
On January 1, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that Tehran had notified it of its intention to resume the enrichment of uranium to 20% at the Fordow plant, which is being built inside a mountain.
The Tehran regime began the challenges a day after the assassination of Qasem Soleimani
On January 3, 2020, by order of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, a drone attack was sprayed near the Baghdad airport, the two vehicles in which were Qassem Soleimani, the architect of the Iranian strategy in the Middle East, and Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis, the commander. Hashd al-Shaabi, a coalition of pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.
At that time, and in the weeks that followed, tensions between Iran and the United States rose exponentially, and a year after the death of the Iranian general, tensions rose again. Iran appears to be looking beyond the end of Trump’s term in the White House and urging future President Joe Biden to return to the deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javar Zarif is now urging US President Donald Trump not to join an alleged Israeli plan aimed at provoking a war by attacking US forces in Iraq. On Thursday, Iran’s foreign minister accused the US president of trying to fabricate a “pretext” to launch a “war” before his departure from the White House on January 20, after a period in which he led a bell. of “maximum pressure” on Tehran.
Publisher: Adrian Dumitru
