The Iranian ship, Touska, that wasseizedby the US Marines following a 6-hour standoff near the Strait of Hormuz, has made many visits to Chinese ports, reported Newsweek, citing shipping data. The US forces tracked, boarded and seized an Iranian cargo vessel near the Strait of Hormuz. The United States says it fired on the ship and seized it because it had crossed the blockade line after ignoring multiple warnings. Iran has vowed a swift response. This is the first such interception since the blockade of Iranian ports began last week.

According to the report, Touska is owned by Iran Shipping Lines, Iran’s national maritime carrier and was formerly known as the Adalia and the Sahand. It was included in the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list in 2019.

Touska had departed Iranian waters on February 22 via the port of Shahid Rajaee and transited the Strait of Malacca in early March before calling at Zhuhai port in southern China on March 9, the report said.

It then sailed north and stayed in Chinese waters off Shanghai for at least 11 days. Following this, the ship reportedly turned off its AIS transponder before remerging for another one-day port call in Zhuhai on March 29.

After the US' seizure, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said, "We hope all relevant parties will adopt a responsible attitude, abide by the ceasefire agreement, avoid escalating tensions or intensifying contradictions."

The US had released the visuals of the operation. "U.S. Marines depart amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7) by helicopter and transit over the Arabian Sea to board and seize M/V Touska. The Marines rappelled onto the Iranian-flagged vessel, April 19, after guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) disabled Touska’s propulsion when the commercial ship failed to comply with repeated warnings from U.S. forces over a six-hour period," the CENTCOM posted on X.

US President Donald Trump said that the US Navy guided missile destroyer in the Gulf of Oman "stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room" and that U.S. Marines had custody of the vessel, named Touska, and were "seeing what’s on board!"

Apoorva Shukla is a journalist at Times Now, where she thrives on dissecting political developments both at home and abroad. A graduate of Delhi Univ...View More

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