Iran Opens Fire on 2nd Commercial Ship in Less Than 1 Month

An Iranian vessel under the control of the Revolutionary Guard opened fire on a commercial shipping vessel for the second time in less than a month.

Reuters reports that the Iranians tried to force an oil tanker into Iranian waters in an effort to settle a legal dispute. The Iranians claim the oil tanker, the Alpine Eternity, hit an Iranian oil platform March 22 and the company that owns the ship has refused to pay for the damage the platform sustained.

The five Iranian vessels were unable to force the Singapore-based tanker into Iranian waters, and the ship escaped to the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates. The Iranians first fired warning shots at the commercial ship before directly opening fire when it refused to stop.

The ship did not sustain any damage from the incident and the 23 strong crew was unharmed.

On April 28, Revolutionary Guard ships opened fire on the Maersk Tigris and forced it into Iranian territorial waters where the ship was seized. As in the case of the Alpine Eternity, the Iranians justified the actions as necessary to resolve a commercial dispute. The Tigris seizure was related to a decade old dispute over shipping containers. The Iranians released the Tigris after 10 days.

The seizure of the Tigris led the United States to increase its presence in the Persian Gulf, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz, which is a choke point for the world's oil supply. The US Navy maintained radio and visual contact with commercial vessels in the area for a time, but recently drew down that mission.

Reuters notes that the Pentagon has not said definitively whether or not it will resume guiding commercial traffic through the region in the wake of this most recent incident.