The US Department of Defence said its military boarded the sanctioned vessel M/T Tifani in South Asian waters on the night of April 20 without incident.
“We will continue global maritime enforcement actions to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran wherever they operate,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
“International waters are not a safe haven for sanctioned vessels,” the agency added, noting that the Department of Defence “will continue to deny illegal actors and their vessels the freedom to manoeuvre in maritime space.”
Along with the statement, the US Department of Defence released images of military helicopters flying over the oil tanker and landing on its side.
This is the second vessel the US has seized and taken control of since imposing a naval blockade on Iran. On 19 April, President Donald Trump said the United States military had intercepted the Iranian cargo ship Touska in the Gulf of Oman.
He said the vessel was attempting to break through a US-imposed naval blockade.
Trump ordered a naval blockade of Iran after US-Iranian peace talks in Islamabad on 11-12 April failed to produce an agreement to end the war.
The US president also said: the US naval blockade of Iranian ports will remain in force “until there is an agreement”. Tehran has said it will not participate in the talks if the US blockade of Iranian ports remains in force. Iran has called the naval blockade and seizure of ships a “violation of the truce.”
The truce, which began on 8 April, expires on 22 April.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas is routed, has been effectively closed due to US-Israeli air attacks on Iran that began on 28 February and Tehran’s strikes on targets in the Middle East, including ships in the Persian Gulf.