DUBAI/ATHENS, April 22 - Iranian naval forces seized two container ships on Wednesday as they sought to leave the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, after opening fire on those vessels and a third, officials reported. Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said the Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy carried out the seizures and warned that any disturbance to order and safety in the strait would be treated as a "red line".
Officials accused the two detained vessels - the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and the Liberia-flagged Epaminondas - of operating without proper permits and of tampering with their navigation systems. Maritime security sources and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported the incidents and provided details of the attacks.
The Greek-operated Epaminondas reported it had been fired upon about 15 nautical miles northwest of Oman. The UKMTO and maritime security sources said the ship's bridge was damaged after being hit by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades that came from an IRGC gunboat. Technomar Shipping Inc, the Greek operator of the Epaminondas, was not available for comment. The Greek coastguard said the Epaminondas has a crew of 21 made up of Ukrainians and Filipinos, but the coastguard could not confirm whether the vessel had been seized.
Maritime security sources added that there were three people onboard the IRGC gunboat during the attack. The master of the Epaminondas reported that no radio contact had been made prior to the assault and that the vessel had previously received permission to transit the strait.
The MSC Francesca, which flies a Panamanian flag, also reported being struck by gunfire about eight nautical miles west of Iran. According to the UKMTO and the maritime sources, MSC Francesca was not damaged and its crew were safe. Operator MSC, the world's largest container shipping group, did not respond to a request for immediate comment.
Separately, a third Liberia-flagged container ship in the same area was fired upon but sustained no damage and continued sailing, maritime security sources said. There was no immediate information available about the cargo aboard the attacked ships.
Market reaction
Oil futures moved higher following the incidents. Brent crude rose 1.0% to $99.46 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate increased 0.85% to $90.43, with those price levels reported at 1143 GMT. In commentary circulated after the events, Jonathan Chappell, senior managing director at investment bank Evercore, wrote that the Iran war and the potential for the strait to close were unprecedented and that the lack of clarity on an outcome and timing could generate more headline-driven volatility.
Context and operational constraints
Tehran imposed controls on vessels using the Strait of Hormuz following U.S. and Israeli bombing attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, which had brought traffic in the waterway to a virtual standstill. Despite those restrictions, Iranian shipping operations had largely continued, bolstered in part by a one-month U.S. sanctions waiver issued on March 20 that allowed Iran to export crude oil and oil products. According to the reporting, Washington has since terminated that trade pathway by instituting a U.S. blockade of Iranian vessels entering or leaving the Gulf.
The strait typically handles roughly 130 vessels per day and carries about 20% of the world's daily oil and liquefied natural gas. Data from AXS Marine, as cited in reporting, showed that daily traffic had fallen to around nine vessels per day after the war began, later rising to roughly 20 per day during a brief reopening that Iran announced and then revoked last week.
What remains uncertain
At this stage, officials have provided limited public information about the exact cargos of the vessels involved, and maritime authorities have not confirmed all details of the seizures. There also remains uncertainty about the near-term status of vessel movements through the Strait of Hormuz, given the mixed signals on permissions and the recent imposition of controls by Iranian authorities.
The incidents on April 22 mark the first reported seizures since the conflict with the United States and Israel began in February and underscore the fragile state of maritime traffic in one of the world's most important energy transit corridors.