Iran seizes two tankers, Advantage Sweet and Niovi, within a week in the Strait of Hormuz area

Iran seized two oil tankers within six days in April-May 2023. On April 27, the Iranian Navy captured the Marshall Islands-flagged Advantage Sweet, carrying Chevron-chartered Kuwaiti crude, about 40 miles east of Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman; US officials linked it to Washington's earlier seizure of Iranian oil from the tanker Suez Rajan. On May 3, IRGC Navy fast-attack craft swarmed the Panama-flagged Niovi mid-transit of the Strait of Hormuz and forced it toward Bandar Abbas. Both tankers were held for over a year before eventual release, and the pair of seizures prompted a US naval reinforcement of the strait.