“I have seen the Iranian allegations…they are completely false and untrue…that is a false claim,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
“The only detention that took place was by Iran,” Kirby added.
US officials said Iranian forces in fact seized a Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker last month and that the US Navy was only monitoring the situation.
For its part, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said in a statement published by the official media, “With the timely and decisive action of the naval forces of the Revolutionary Guards, the terrorist attempt of the US Navy to steal Iranian oil in the Gulf of Oman failed.”
“The tanker carrying Iranian oil docked at Bandar Abbas port on October 25,” the statement added.
Iran has repeatedly warned the United States about its military activities in the Gulf, and said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s naval forces have reinforced patrols to secure the passage of Iranian ships and counter fuel smuggling.
In an account of the incident, Press TV reported that the Revolutionary Guards acted “immediately” when the Iranian oil tanker was intercepted in the Gulf of Oman.
“People from the Revolutionary Guards’ naval forces carried out a helicopter landing operation on the impounded tanker, took control of the ship and directed it to return to Iranian territorial waters,” the channel said.
Meanwhile, US officials told Reuters that several drones, believed to be Iranian, approached the US Navy’s amphibious assault ship Essex in the Strait of Hormuz during the past 24 hours.
Tensions have increased between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s return to talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal under which Iran curtailed its nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions.
Ali Shamkhani, Secretary-General of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Wednesday that negotiations aimed at reviving the nuclear deal would fail unless US President Joe Biden could ensure that Washington did not withdraw from it again.
“The American president, who lacks authority, is not ready to offer guarantees. If the current situation continues, the outcome of the negotiations is clear,” Shamkhani said on Twitter.
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