Strait of Hormuz – U.S. Navy Ships To Guard British Merchants - Maritime and Salvage Wolrd News

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) – U.S. Navy warships have begun accompanying British-flagged business vessels via the Strait of Hormuz on account of Iran’s detention of a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship final week, the Pentagon stated on Monday.

Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, stated the U.S. Navy had accompanied one British ship via the strait, one of many world’s most essential oil delivery channels, following talks between Washington and London.

“They’ve asked if we would accompany their flagged vessels through the strait,” Warren informed reporters.

The Navy has been accompanying U.S.-flagged ships traversing the strait for a number of days in response to final week’s detention of the MV Maersk Tigris by Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boats. Pentagon officers say the motion is a short lived one on account of current Iranian actions within the waterway.

The Maersk Tigris was approached by Iranian patrol vessels final Tuesday and ordered into Iranian waters. The ship’s grasp initially declined and an Iranian vessel fired pictures throughout its bow and compelled it to divert to close Larak Island off the port of Bandar Abbas.

The Maersk Tigris stays there on account of what Iranian officers have stated is a court docket order primarily based on a business dispute.

The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions within the area on account of the battle in Yemen between Iranian-backed rebels and the Saudi-backed authorities. The United States is supporting the Saudi-led coalition.

U.S. officers stated the Navy started accompanying U.S.-flagged vessels within the strait partially as a result of Iranian patrol boats had shadowed a U.S.-flagged business ship going via the very important waterway a couple of days earlier than the Maersk Tigris was detained.

(Reporting by David Alexander and Phil Stewrat; Editing by Susan Heavey)