The vessel’s master reported that the ship was
approached by a small military craft around 6:30 am local time and it had been
flashing a green laser light towards the bridge. The small military craft
continued to hail the vessel.
According to security
firm Vanguard, the craft undertook aggressive behaviour and was assessed
to be attempting to force the vessel into Iranian waters. The military craft
also claimed to be the “Safarni navy”, despite the master’s assessment that it
was an Iranian military craft following the sighting of an Iranian flag
onboard.
Vanguard added that the Joint Maritime Information
Center assessed the incident to be related to the Iranian large-scale military
exercise Noble Prophet, or Great Prophet 19.
The 2011-built, 46,635 dwt roro is owned by the New
York-based shipping firm Liberty Maritime. It has been part of the US firm’s
fleet since 2022.
Iran has detained a number of merchant ships in
recent years.