Tensions Flare Near Strait of Hormuz   05/15 06:30

   A ship anchored off the United Arab Emirates was seized and taken toward 
Iran and another -- a cargo ship near Oman -- sank after being attacked, 
authorities said Thursday, as tensions escalated near the Strait of Hormuz.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- A ship anchored off the United Arab 
Emirates was seized and taken toward Iran and another -- a cargo ship near Oman 
-- sank after being attacked, authorities said Thursday, as tensions escalated 
near the Strait of Hormuz.

   It wasn't immediately clear who was behind these incidents, but they 
happened as a senior Iranian official reiterated his country's claim of control 
over the waterway and another said it had a right to seize oil tankers 
connected to the U.S.

   The turmoil in the strait, which a fifth of the world's oil passed through 
before the war, has been a sticking point for weeks in talks between the U.S. 
and Iran to end the conflict. Iran's grip on the vital waterway has jolted the 
world economy and spiked fuel prices far beyond the Middle East.

   The ongoing instability in the region came as U.S. President Donald Trump 
met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. The White House said both sides 
had agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open.

   Just last week, tensions flared in the strait when U.S. forces fired on and 
disabled Iranian oil tankers that they said were trying to breach its blockade 
of Iran's ports.

   Seizures and attacks in Hormuz ongoing

   The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said it received reports 
that the ship seized Thursday was taken by unauthorized personnel while 
anchored 38 nautical miles (70 kilometers, 44 miles) northeast of the UAE port 
of Fujairah, an important oil export terminal that has been repeatedly attacked 
during the war with Iran.

   The U.K. maritime center did not name the ship seized Thursday and said it 
is investigating. The British military said the vessel is heading toward 
Iranian waters.

   Indian authorities said Thursday that an Indian-flagged cargo ship sank off 
the coast of Oman after an attack sparked a fire aboard the vessel while it was 
en route from Somalia to Sharjah, another UAE port. They did not say who 
attacked the ship.

   The attack on the Indian-flagged cargo ship Haji Ali occurred Wednesday, 
according to Mukesh Mangal, a senior official in India's shipping ministry. He 
said all 14 Indian crew members were rescued by Oman's coast guard and were 
safe.

   India's foreign ministry called the incident "unacceptable" and condemned 
continued attacks on commercial shipping and civilian mariners. The ministry 
did not identify who carried out the attack.

   Seizures come at tense diplomatic moment

   Iranian semiofficial news agencies reported that Chinese ships began passing 
through the strait Wednesday night under new Iranian protocols. According to 
the reports, Tehran agreed to facilitate the passage of several Chinese vessels 
after requests from China's foreign minister and Beijing's ambassador to Iran. 
The ships began their passage as Trump arrived in China.

   The seizure of a ship off the coast of the UAE happened hours after Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he had quietly visited the country during 
the Israeli-U.S. war with Iran, though the UAE swiftly denied it.

   The Gulf nation normalized relations with Israel in 2020. Iran has 
criticized that agreement and has repeatedly suggested over the years that 
Israel maintained a military and intelligence presence in the UAE.

   Netanyahu's decision to go public with the sensitive meeting was likely an 
effort to drum up support for his flagging party ahead of Israeli elections, 
said Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute of National Security 
Studies in Tel Aviv.

   "It's amazing, it's the deepest cooperation we've ever had ... that during a 
war, Israel is defending an Arab state against Iran. It shows how complicated 
the Middle East is," he said.

   The UAE is trying to highlight its cooperation with Israel but not with 
Netanyahu and his government, Guzansky said, because many in the UAE are 
against Israel's policies in Gaza.

   "They're trying to differentiate between security cooperation and 
cooperating with this government," said Guzansky, who previously worked for the 
national security council within the Israeli prime minister's office.

   Iran sets demands for new talks

   Iran said it will not enter more talks with the United States unless five 
conditions are met, including paying reparations for the war and accepting 
Iran's sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's semiofficial Fars news 
agency reported, citing an informed source.

   The White House is again unlikely to accept those demands, which would 
essentially formalize Iran's control over a waterway that was open to 
international traffic before the war.

   Iran's senior vice president, Mohammadreza Aref, said Thursday that the 
strait belongs to Iran and that Tehran would not give it up "at any price," 
state TV reported. "It has always been our property," Aref said.

   Iran defends right to seize ships

   Iran's judiciary spokesperson told the state-owned Iran Daily newspaper on 
Thursday that Iran has the legal and judicial right to seize oil tankers in the 
strait that are connected to the U.S. because the U.S. has violated 
international maritime laws and committed piracy. The spokesperson, Asghar 
Jahangir, did not explicitly refer to the tanker seized on Thursday.

   Iran seized a number of ships, including a tanker identified as the Ocean 
Koi, last week, saying it was attempting to disrupt oil exports and Iranian 
interests, according to the official IRNA news agency. It said the tanker was 
seized in the Gulf of Oman and carrying Iranian oil when it was taken to Iran's 
southern coast.

   The U.S. sanctioned the Ocean Koi in February as part of a "shadow fleet" 
transporting Iranian oil.

   Top US military leader says Iran's threats impact shipping

   The top U.S. commander in the Middle East said Thursday he believes Iran's 
military capabilities have been "dramatically degraded," but its leaders are 
impacting shipping in the strait with rhetoric alone.

   "Their voice is very loud, and the threats are clearly heard by the merchant 
industry and the insurance industry," Adm. Brad Cooper told lawmakers in 
Congress.

   He said the U.S. has the military power to permanently reopen the strait and 
escort ships. But he deferred to policymakers about the best path forward amid 
a "time of sensitive negotiations."