Iran would retaliate against any oil company unloading Iranian oil from a seized tanker, the Revolutionary Guards’ navy commander Alireza Tangsiri said on Thursday, according to state media.

In April, the U.S. confiscated Iranian oil on a tanker at sea in a sanctions enforcement operation, according to a maritime security firm.

Tangsiri added that Tehran would hold Washington responsible for allowing the unloading of the tanker’s content.

Sources familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, had said Washington took control of the oil cargo aboard the Marshall Islands tanker Suez Rajan after securing an earlier court order.

The tanker’s last reported position was near southern Africa on April 22, ship tracking data showed.

On Monday, the U.S. announced it will send additional F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, along with a warship to the Middle East, in a bid to monitor key waterways in the region following Iran’s seizure and harassment of commercial shipping vessels in recent months.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Rashmi Aich)