Vedant Patel, the deputy spokesperson of the US Department of State, demanded the immediate release of the offending oil tanker from the Islamic Republic of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy in the Strait of Hormuz.

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): Vedant Patel, the Deputy Spokesman of the US Department of State, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday (May 4, 2023) this is the second time in the past week that Iran has sunk an oil tanker with a foreign flag in its waters.
 
The US Navy's Fifth Fleet claimed that the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker was seized while passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
 
Last April 28, an offending ship with the flag of the Marshall Islands, which had collided with an Iranian vessel in the Persian Gulf and caused the loss and injury of several Iranian crew members, was identified and seized by the Navy in the Oman Sea.
 
The above-mentioned ship had attempted to escape from the Persian Gulf, contrary to international regulations regarding helping the vessel and the injured, which was immediately intercepted, identified and seized by the Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran after a request from the Maritime Surveillance and Rescue Center (MRCC).