The US statement identified the ship as the Advantage Sweet Suezmax crude tanker chartered by Chevron to move product from Kuwait to Houston. The US administration is calling on Iran's government to immediately release the oil tanker, according to Bloomberg.

"Iran's continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy," the US Navy said. The statement further reviewed that in two years, the Islamic Republic has unlawfully seized at least five commercial vessels in the region.

Iran's state television IRIB News confirmed Iranian possession of the tanker. Iran's military is claiming the vessel collided with an Iranian boat and then tried to flee. "A Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker was seized by the Iranian army's naval force in the Persian Gulf after it collided with an Iranian boat in the Gulf of Oman and tried to flee," the Iranian military said. "Two members of the boat's crew are missing and several were injured due to the collision of the ship with the boat," it claimed.

The vessel's Turkey-based management company said as quoted in Reuters, "The safety and welfare of our valued crew members is our No. 1 priority," adding that: "Similar experiences show that crew members of vessels taken under such circumstances are in no danger."

Iran especially since 2019, a year after the Trump administration pulled out of the JCPOA nuclear deal brokered under Obama, increased its threats to close the Strait of Hormuz narrow waterway by force - vital to global trade and oil transit - if it's prevented from using it.