{"id":86859,"date":"2026-04-28T04:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/86859\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T04:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:46:10","slug":"return-of-pirates-tehran-slams-us-seizure-of-vessels-carrying-iranian-oil-in-indian-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/86859\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Return of pirates\u2019: Tehran slams US’ seizure of vessels carrying Iranian oil in Indian Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran on Monday (local time) condemned what it called \u201coutright legalization of piracy and armed robbery\u201d by the United States, referring to the recent seizures of sanctioned vessels carrying Iranian oil by the US forces in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

\"Iran'sIran’s strongly-worded criticism comes after Pentagon said on Thursday, April 23, that the US forces stopped and boarded a sanctioned ship, M\/T Majestic, which was carrying Iranian oil in the Indian ocean. (X\/@DeptofWar)<\/p>\n

Referring to the US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Ferris Pirro’s days-old post regarding the US forces interdicted the \u201cdark fleet vessel\u201d M\/T Majestic on Thursday last week, Iran’s foreign ministry official Esmaeil Baqaei equated the move to the \u201creturn of the pirates\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the outright legalization of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas,\u201d Baqaei, who is the head of Center for Public Diplomacy of Iran, wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n

“Welcome to the return of the pirates \u2014 only now, they operate with government-issued warrants, sail under official flags, and call their plunder \u201claw enforcement,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Baqaei called for strict action against the United States for what he described as \u201cbrazenly lawless behaviour\u201d which goes against international law.<\/p>\n

Track live updates of US-Iran conflict here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States must be held fully accountable for this brazenly lawless behavior, which strikes at the heart of international law & international free trade, and threatens the basic principles of maritime security,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

US seizes two tankers carrying Iranian oil in Indian ocean<\/p>\n

Iran’s strongly-worded criticism comes after Pentagon said on Thursday, April 23, that the US forces stopped and boarded a sanctioned ship, M\/T Majestic, which was carrying Iranian oil in the Indian ocean.<\/p>\n

Also read: Inside $500 mn Russian superyacht with a helipad, submarine that just crossed choked Strait of Hormuz<\/a><\/p>\n

Before that, another such vessel, M\/T Tifani, was also seized by US forces last week after a seizure warrant was issued by Pirro’s office.<\/p>\n

Both the vessels, according to Pirro’s post on X, were carrying 1.9 million barrels of Iranian oil each.<\/p>\n

In the post made last week, Pirro wrote, \u201cWe will continue to relentlessly investigate, track, and pursue these cases, using every lawful authority to hold sanctioned actors and those who support terrorism accountable, and to deny them of any ability to profit from illicit maritime activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also read: If US, Iran fail to reach a ‘peace’ deal, what comes next? Here’s what Marco Rubio said<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMy office has executed some of the nation\u2019s most complex seizure warrants\u2014including those used to stop, board, and seize the M\/Ts Skipper, Bella 1, and Veronica\u2014working with national security partners to disrupt illicit oil networks and protect American interests,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Iran’s proposal to the US<\/p>\n

Iran’s fresh criticism of the United States comes after both the parties are struggling to reach a middle ground for a fresh round of talks to discuss a sustainable plan to end the war, which crossed the two-month mark on Tuesday, April 28.<\/p>\n

Iran has extended an offer proposing easing its grip on the Strait of Hormuz if the US ends its blockade on the key trade waterway and ends the war, news agency AP reported citing two regional officials.<\/p>\n

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that Trump convened national security officials to discuss the proposal and that he will address the matter \u201cvery soon\u201d. However, she also highlighted that Trump’s \u201cred lines with respect to Iran have been made very, very clear\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a US official said that Trump is unhappy with Iran’s latest proposal, reported Reuters.<\/p>\n

Iran’s foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi met with Russian President Putin and hailed the ties between Tehran and Moscow.<\/p>\n

Sharing pictures from the meet, Araghchi wrote on X, \u201cPleased to engage with Russia at the highest level as the region is in major flux. Recent events have evidenced the depth and strength of our strategic partnership. As our relationship continues to grow, we are grateful for solidarity and welcome Russia’s support for diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran on Monday (local time) condemned what it called \u201coutright legalization of piracy and armed robbery\u201d by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[34,13855,143,27293,30927,69,51],"class_list":["post-86859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tehran","tag-iran","tag-iranian-oil","tag-maritime-security","tag-piracy","tag-sanctioned-vessels","tag-tehran","tag-united-states"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116480519806158234","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}