IRGC claims to have seized tanker as sabre-rattling, attacks and talk of a truce continue

Iran and the US have traded shots while diplomatic channels appear to continue to evaluate the potential for a truce that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In the latest reported incident, the IRGC has claimed, via video and its closely-linked semi-official news agency in Iran, Fars, to have boarded and seized Marshall Islands-flagged LR1 crude tanker, which Fars referred to as Ocean Koi (now: Jin Li), with apparent ownership links to China.

Equasis lists the vessel’s registered owners and commercial managers as Ocean Kudos Shipping Co, Ltd, with a physical address in Shanghai, China. 

Independent crude cargo tracking firm TankerTrackers has traced the vessel’s movements over the past five years and said it has been operating "with full knowledge of Iran" and routinely loading Iranian crude cargoes.

"[The vessel’s] new name is actually JIN LI (9255933), and has been so since 2025-11-30. Examining our data, we can see that she’s transported various Iranian hydrocarbons on at least 16 occasions since 2021; and with full knowledge of Iran because half of her loadings were conducted directly at port in Iran while the other half were conducted via Ship-to-Ship transfer further out," Tanker Trackers said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

The company also confirmed ownership of the vessel to an entity in Shanghai and its status as a vessel sanctioned by the US’ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The vessel is listed as sanctioned under its previous name and existing IMO number in the open-source database Open Sanctions.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed on X that US forces are currently "preventing from entering or leaving Iranian ports" some 70 tankers. 

"These commercial ships have the capacity to transport over 166 million barrels of Iranian oil worth an estimated US$13Bn-plus," US CENTCOM said.

Skirmishes continue; US targets Iranian tankers

The US military apparatus had yesterday reported attacks on some of its warships that it attributed to Iran and said the attacks were thwarted and that the US had responded by targeting Iranian drone and missile launching sites.

"Iranian forces launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats as USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and USS Mason (DDG 87) transited the international sea passage. No US assets were struck. US Central Command eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking US forces including missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes," the military service said.