Update included in the following text on 2021-11-05:
Yesterday, 2021-11-03, the international program of the Arabic news channel 《Al-Jazeera》 reported on a close encounter between US warships and vessels of the Iranian revolutionary guard near the coast of Oman. It seems, Iranian coast guard hurried to the relief of an oil tanker navigating under the flag of Vietnam. Iran says its military units thwarted a US attempt to "steal Iranian oil" by confiscating the tanker. The incident should have happened on October 24.
《Al-Jazeera》الجزيرة
2nd news video published on 2021-11-03, 1st to contain Iranian video material.
《Al-Mayadeen》قناة الميادين , a pro-Iranian TV channel broadcasting in Arabic on 2021-11-03:
جرأة إيرانية كبيرة في مواجهة الأميركيين تجبرهم على التراجع
Great Iranian courage in a confrontation with the Americans forced them to retreat.
Other Arabic language sources confirmed the Iranian news, showing matching videos of the incident that were taken from different positions (view from Iranian helicopter, view inside helicopter, view from Iranian vessel). What happened: Some helicopter operated by the Iranian revolutionary guards landed on the tanker and deployed a special forces unit to prevent US troops from taking over the ship. At the same time, a US warship close to the tanker, was confronted at very short distance by different Iranian military vessels including speedboats.
The Arabic and Iranian news make sense when related to another incident that already took place off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February this year:
观察者网：美国扣押伊朗油轮卖掉船上200万桶原油，获利1.1亿美元
The Chinese source 《Observer Network》 reported on 2021-06-01:
The US Energy Information Administration released the US oil import and export data for March on the 28th [of May]. Some traders noticed that the import data showed US imports from Iran in March. Some 33,000 barrels of crude oil should have been imported. However, as early as 2018, the United States imposed trade sanctions on Iran's crude oil exports.
The Associated Press AP reported on the 31st, citing court documents and government statistics, that this batch of "imported" crude oil was "confiscated" from Iran. The United States seized an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of the UAE in February this year and sold 2 million barrels of crude oil on board, and finally made a profit of 110 million U.S. dollars.
Footnote added on 2021-11-10:
According to Iranian sources, the Vietnamese tanker "Sothys" was guided to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas where it was unloaded and recently released. The tanker is now anchoring near the indicated position off the coast of Oman.
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