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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Iran's navy seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday heading to the U.S. amid wider tensions over Tehran's nuclear program, the latest-such capture in a waterway crucial for global energy supplies.

The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet identified the vessel as the Advantage Sweet. Satellite tracking data for the vessel from MarineTraffic.com showed it in the Gulf of Oman, just north of Oman's capital, Muscat, on Thursday afternoon. It had just come from Kuwait and listed its destination as Houston.

The Advantage Sweet issued a distress call at 1:15 p.m. while in international waters as Iran seized the vessel, the Navy said.

"Irans actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability," the 5th Fleet said in a statement. Iran should immediately release the oil tanker.

The Navy initially said Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized the vessel, but an American naval aircraft later confirmed that Iran's navy captured the ship, 5th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins told The Associated Press.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said the seizure came after an unknown ship collided with an Iranian vessel last night in the Persian Gulf, causing several Iranian crew members to go missing and get injured. It did not identify the other ship involved in the alleged collision.

The Advantage Sweet had been in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, but its track showed no unusual behavior as it transited through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of all traded oil passes. Iran has made allegations in other seizures that later fell apart as it became clear Tehran was trying to leverage the capture as a chip to negotiate with foreign nations.

Irans harassing activity within the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman is commensurate with an established pattern of behavior that has seen Iran target vessels as a result of ongoing disputes," maritime security firm Dryad Global said.

The 5th Fleet said the Iranian seizure was at least the fifth commercial vessel taken by Tehran in the last two years.

Iran's continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are a threat to maritime security and the global economy, it added.

U.S. Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, said in a statement that the illegal seizure of the tanker was ""another in a continuing series of violations by Iran of the international rules-based order."

The vessel's manager, a Turkish firm called Advantage Tankers, issued a statement acknowledging the Advantage Sweet was being escorted by the Iranian navy to a port on the basis of an international dispute. All the ship's 24 crew members are Indian.

The safety and welfare of our valued crew members is our No. 1 priority, the firm said. Similar experiences show that crew members of vessels taken under such circumstances are in no danger.

The ship's listed owner appeared to be a Chinese company.

Manifest information from data firm Refinitiv showed the Advantage Sweet carried Kuwaiti crude oil for American energy firm Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, California. Chevron said it was aware of the situation.

We are in contact with the vessel operator with the hope of resolving this situation as soon as possible, Chevron spokesperson Christine Dobbyn said in a statement.

Thursday's seizure by Iran was the latest in a string of ship seizures and explosions to roil the region.

The incidents began after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Irans nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Also, the U.S. Navy has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021.

Tehran denies carrying out the attacks, but a wider shadow war between Iran and the West has played out in the regions volatile waters. Iranian tanker seizures have been a part of it since 2019. The last major seizure came when Iran took two Greek tankers in May and held them until November.

In the wider Mideast, Iranian-backed militias in Syria have carried out attacks on U.S. forces, including one that killed a contractor in March. The U.S. responded with airstrikes.

Meanwhile, talks over Irans tattered nuclear deal have been stalled for a year. Since the deals collapse, Iran runs advanced centrifuges and has a rapidly growing stockpile of enriched uranium. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned Iran has enriched enough up to 60% purity a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%. That would be sufficient for Iran to make several nuclear weapons if it chooses to do so.

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Associated Press writer Robert Badendieck in Istanbul contributed to this report.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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Iran navy seizes tanker near Oman that was on way to Houston - ABC News

Irans exiled prince Reza Pahlavi, who is on a visit to Italy to galvanize support for the Iranian uprising, visited the Vatican on the second day of his stay on Thursday.

Irans exiled prince Reza Pahlavi, who is on a visit to Italy to galvanize support for the Iranian uprising, visited the Vatican on the second day of his stay on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Pahlavi and his wife Yasmine also held a friendly meeting with a group of Iranians residing in Italy before taking a few minutes of their time to meet Elaheh Tavakolian, a PhD student who lost one of her eyes to shotgun pellets fired at protesters by the Islamic Republics security forces. She is in Italy to receive treatment for her eye.

Irans exiled prince Reza Pahlavi (right), his wife Yasmine (center) and Elaheh Tavakolian, a protester who lost one of her eyes to shotgun pellets fired by the Islamic Republics security forces, April 27, 2023

Wherever the Pahlavis went during their first two days in Italy, they were welcomed by a large Iranian crowd who had gathered to meet the prince. The moment he arrived at the Italian parliament, he was greeted by Iranians who were chanting slogans in support of King Reza Pahlavi, saying that they would bring him back to Iran.

There, he spoke to people about their role in supporting the protests, calling on them to be the voice of the people who are suffering under the regime and do not enjoy the freedom and access to the free world to make their voices heard. You are the voice of the future, he told the crowd.

Irans exiled prince Reza Pahlavi (left) and his wife Yasmine speaking to their supporters outside the Italian parliament on April 26, 2023

Your unison and unanimity not only invigorate our compatriots inside the country -- the ones in the Evin prison, or the ones who have lost their eyesight to regimes bullets, or the schoolgirls who are attacked by chemical gas but also result in the world hearing your voice, he said.

Pahlavi highlighted that the world countries have realized that they should not limit their interactions to the regime, which does not represent the Iranian people. "If I have come here today to talk to the representatives of the governments, it is to make your voice heard and to say that investing in the people of Iran means guaranteeing democracy and freedom in the future and ending the threats of the Islamic Republic," he said.

During the meeting with the Iranian expatriates Thursday, Pahlavi talked about the transition to the future Iran free of the Islamic Republic, noting that after the collapse of the regimesomething similar to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commissionwould be needed to deal with the crimes committed by regime officials. The commision was established by the new South African government in 1995 to help heal the country and bring about a reconciliation of its people by uncovering the truth about human rights violations that had occurred during the period of apartheid.

On Wednesday,Pahlavi also held a meeting with Senator Stefania Craxi, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, where he also held a presser following his talks with several other Italian parliamentarians.

During the Wednesday press conference, the leading opposition figure reiterated his call on world countries to support the uprising of the Iranians, saying, We all recognize that sanctions are perhaps to some great extent able to weaken such regimes and limit their means to repress their own citizenry... it is of course necessary but not sufficient because at some point there has to be an element of direct support to the citizens.

He went on to emphasize that it is of great importance for the people of Iran, especially the victims of the regime, to see and feel that they are not alone, and the world has finally heard their voice and are taking actual measures to support them and further punish the regime.

My political mission in life is to see to a transition, he said, highlighting that at the end of the day it's the Iranian people who make the final decision for their future. He added, for me that mission ends the day that the Constitutional project is offered to the nation by the Constitutional assembly and ratified by means of a referendum which will then establish the future system in Iran.

Since the beginning of the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement, ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022, well-known figures of the Iranian opposition, such as Pahlavi, have been holding meetings with the government and parliamentary officials of Western countries hoping to further isolate the Islamic Republic in the global community and ensure support for the Iranians.

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Exiled Prince In Italy To Garner Support For Iran Protests -

The Iranian security services continue to arrest activists who participated in a conference last weekend, which discussed the chances of a referendum for a peaceful political transition to a secular regime.

Activists reported on Twitter that the security services arrested civil and political activist Abdollah Momeni in his home days after he participated in the "How to Save Iran" conference.

Momeni's arrest came after another conference participant held over the Clubhouse application, Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, was apprehended. Shirazi was an advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is under house arrest.

The authorities arrested veteran journalist Keyvan Samimi, 74, who was announced among the conference participants.

Samimi appeared in a video recording, calling for forming a National Salvation Front.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted the state-affiliated Jam-e Jam website saying that Shirazi was arrested as part of the judicial campaign against anti-revolutionary elements.

The authorities accused Mousavi's advisors of instigating the statement which called for ending Iran.

The website referred to a text published in early February, in which Mousavi called for "radical changes in Iran" by organizing a referendum on the constitution.

He described the paradoxical structure and unsustainable basic system as the major crisis in the country.

Jam-e Jam indicated that the three men participated in a virtual conference calling to overthrow the regime and draft a new constitution, reported by the AFP.

Mizan agency quoted an informed security official that Mousavi is under the control of the opposition Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization.

The security official said that Mousavi's latest statement was a "direct copy" of the rhetoric of the Organization.

He accused Ardeshir Amir Arjomand, a Paris-based political activist who runs the Kalima website and Mousavi's adviser, of being directly involved.

Arjomand was one of the founders of the "How to Save Iran" conference, which included a group of reformist activists calling for a peaceful and gradual transition to a secular regime.

Dozens of political and civil society activists at home and abroad participated in the conference, which discussed transitioning from religious rule to a secular democratic political system.

Mousavi was Iran's prime minister between 1981 and 1989 and ran for the presidential elections in 2009. Along with former Shura Council President Mahdi Karroubi, Mousavi protested the re-election of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denouncing widespread fraud.

The former premier was not the only one who issued a controversial statement after the anniversary of the 1979 revolution last February.

Former President Mohammad Khatami tried to distance himself from this discourse, noting that reform was possible and urging a return to the constitution.

Earlier this week, Khatami reiterated his opposition to demands to overthrow the political system.

The former president, Hassan Rouhani, was also among the advocates of a referendum on "diplomacy," "domestic politics," and "the economy."

The top Sunni cleric in Iran, Abdolhamid Ismailzahi, repeatedly called for a referendum to choose the governing method that enjoys the support of the majority of the people.

The Imam of Zahedan's Friday prayer stressed that the referendum is the way out of the current problems in the country.

On April 18, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected opposition to calls for a referendum on state policy, saying the various issues of the country cannot be put to a referendum because each referendum preoccupies the entire country for six months.

In statements published on his official website, Khamenei added, "Where in the world do they hold referendums for all issues?"

During the Eid sermon, Khamenei called for focusing on resolving issues and refraining from "marginal issues," warning that the enemies want to divide the nation.

Khamenei accused the enemies of aiming for conflict between Iranians because of different beliefs and sects, asserting the need to maintain unity to overcome challenges.

"The enemy is against the unity of the Iranian people," he said, adding that the different sects and beliefs can coexist and work together in the country.

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Iran Arrests Participants of a Conference Calling for Referendum - Asharq Al-awsat - English

DUBAI, April 26 (Reuters) - Belgium said on Wednesday an Iranian diplomat jailed there for 20 years will not soon be released in a prisoner swap, apparently contradicting Iran's judiciary.

In March, Belgium's Constitutional Court upheld a prisoner exchange treaty with Iran that could lead to Asadollah Assadi being swapped for jailed Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele.

"Belgium has requested an exchange and so have we for our diplomat Asadollah Assadi. Following the necessary protocols, such an exchange will be done soon," Iranian judiciary spokesperson Masoud Setayeshi said on Wednesday.

But a spokesperson for Belgian Justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne denied a deal had been reached.

"This is a false message from a rogue state that specialises in making false statements", Van Quickenborne said to Belgian public broadcaster VTM.

"They do this to manipulate and confuse an innocent compatriot and his family."

He also denied there would be a prison swap with another Belgian.

Last week, Belgium submitted a request to Iran that Vandecasteele be sent back to his country in accordance with the prisoner transfer treaty.

Assadi was jailed for 20-years in 2021 over a 2018 foiled bomb plot targeting an Iranian opposition group in Paris.

Vandecasteele was arrested on a visit to Iran in February 2022 and sentenced in January to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes on several charges including spying.

Belgium repeatedly said there were no grounds for the detention of Vandecasteele, saying he was convicted "for a fabricated series of crimes" and in retribution for Assadi's jailing.

Iran has called the accusation that Assadi was linked to an attack in Paris a "false flag" stunt by the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran, which it calls a terrorist group.

Reporting by Dubai Newsroom, Editing by Andrew Heavens

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Belgium says no deal reached to free jailed Iran diplomat in swap - Reuters

Earlier this month, Beijings state-owned China Southern Power Grid announced the acquisition of nearly $3 billion in assets of Perus electric power grid,giving Chinacontrol of at least 70% of Perus electric distribution market. The deal is remarkable, among other reasons, because it follows months of violent protests that have rocked Peru since December following the impeachment and arrest of socialist president Pedro Castillo. This is no accident. Perus destabilization is opening the door for anti-American forceslike Chinaand Iran, who are seeking a permanent foothold in the Western Hemisphere.

While the mass pro-Castillo riots of January and February have dissipated, smaller waves of protests and road blockades have entered their fifth month in the southern region of Puno, near the Peru-Bolivia border, a reminder that the countrys political crisis is far from over.

At the protests peak, 117 roads were blockaded throughout the country. So far, at least 66 people have died, including a policeman burned alive and six soldiers drowned to death, with dozens of public buildings attacked. In December, when the coup attempt occurred, through January, 859 police officers reportedly had been injured and 43 police stations were looted or burned.

To assume that Perus crisis is occurring in a vacuum or ends with street protests ignores the lessons of other recent turmoil in the region.

In March 2020, for example, the National Defense Universitys Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies releaseda reportthat showed the role of the Bolivarian Joint Criminal Enterprise in inciting protracted social disturbances in Chile, Colombia, and Ecuadorthree long-time AS. partnerssince 2019.

The Bolivarian Joint Criminal Enterprise is one of several terms used to refer to the threat network of the Latin American authoritarian left and their global state and illicit non-state allies. This can be understood plainly as an anti-Americanthreat network.

The Bolivarian threat network incited the 2019 disturbances in Chile, Colombia and Ecuador by using narco-terrorist armed groupsand socialistsolidarity conferences to train and mobilize shock troops that participated in the riots. It also used individual facilitators to fund and coordinate disturbances and deployed social media disinformation accounts.

This does not mean that these protests did not include legitimate grievances or peaceful protesters, but that the network coopted these for its own ends.

The result? U.S.-friendly governments in these countries were forced to make concessions to the rioters and spend scarce resources to address the unrest. The threat network also advanced anti-democratic and anti-American narratives and opened new local spaces for organized crime and U.S. adversaries to operate in.

In subsequent elections, Chile and Colombia voted out U.S.-friendly incumbents and turned to far-left leaders. Chiles last president was pressured to allow a vote to overhaul the countrys decades-old constitutiona tense political battle that continues today.

In Ecuador, coordinated riots have continued and pressures on the current center-right government of President Guillermo Lasso are mounting.

As the threat network understands it, such coordination is a form of warfare, elaborated by former Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez as a form of fourth-generation warfare. Such 4thgeneration warfare, a form of asymmetric warfare, aims to counter U.S. influence and bring countries intothe socialistcamp without needing to use conventional force. It is seen as a continuous and deliberately protracted struggle.

Perus turmoil is the latest example of these efforts. According to the National Defense University report, Peru was publicly identified as a next target by the network in 2020.

The December arrest and impeachment of Castillo, a Marxist and threat network ally, following his failed coup attempt against Perus congress created the opening. The network-backed protesters made unconstitutional demands, calling for the ousting of Castillos vice president and successor, current President Dina Boluarte.

Like other protests, Perus have been a mixed composition of organized radical pro-Castillo groups, other protesters disaffected with government corruption, and illicit actors. But the indications that this was a coordinated effort are increasingly clear. Castillo alliesreportedly wireddaily payments to mobilize protesters. The attempt toseize five airportsalso shows a level of sophisticated coordination.

Peruvian authorities found that terrorist elements of the protests included the Shining Path, the historic Maoist terrorist group, and other armed groups, includingthe Etnocaceristas, a separatist group in southern Peru.

Edwar Quiroga, a known operative in the mining-rich Apurimac region in southern Peru, is known tolink the Etnocaceristasto Iranian intelligence. Quiroga previously ran Inkarri Islam, a Shia culture center in Apurimac that offers political and ideological training to young Peruvians. A Castillo ally, Quiroga was arrested last August in southern Peru with19,000 cartridges of dynamite. Just four months later, Perus protests began with an insurgency in Apurimac. Last week, Boluarte reestablished relations with Iranan unprecedented development in Peru.

Additionally, Cubas ambassador to Peru, Carlos El Gallo Zamora, an operative for the Cuban regimes nefarious G2 intelligence directorate, isknown fordecades of recruiting agents to infiltrate anddisrupt the regions democracies.

Moreover, former Bolivian president and key threat network member Evo Morales wasbanned from entering Perufor malign foreign interference. Peruvian authorities found Bolivians chief among the foreign nationals involved in the countrys violent riots. Morales operatives were found to have illegally crossed the Peru-Bolivia border over27 timesbetween 2021 and 2022.

Bolivia, a landlocked countrywhere Chinais active in lithium extraction, depends on Peru for global trade. Russia and Iran are actively involved inuranium mining in Bolivia. The protracted disturbances near the porous Peru-Bolivia border help benefit the trafficking of drugs as well as gold, lithium, and other illicitly mined productsall of which can be used to fund political operations of the threat network.

The confluence of illicit, ideological, and geopolitical interests behind Perus turmoil mirrors that of recent well-recorded cases in neighboring democracies. This also means that the crisis does not end with the end of the protests. In a battle of narratives, protesters now demand that Peru hold early elections while falsely casting the political right as co-governing with Boluarte.

All of this unravels as the U.S. rapidly loses allies and partner governments in the region while anti-American forces make permanent gains. Those who insist that Chinas economic activity in Peru was negatively affected by the protests have been proven wrong by last weeks sale of a large part of Perus electric power grid from private Italian firm ENEL to China. The turmoil might dissuade legitimate private investment from competing in the country, butChinas predatory statefirms stand to benefit.

The U.S. must begin countering the Bolvarian threat networks asymmetric warfare with an informational and public diplomacy response. Congress should press the White House to do so, and it should mandate that the administration update it on Perus illicit trafficking flows and those flows potential links to political activity. It should also urge Perus consumer protection agency, INDECOPI, to reject Chinas recent monopolistic acquisition of electric power.

The last time that another threat network ally governed Peru, a Chinese state-owned company was able tosecure accessto a deep-sea mega-port that is key to Beijings Pacific naval ambitions, andPeru becameanother one of Chinas comprehensive strategic partners.

This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal

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South American Partners Turning Away From U.S. and Toward ... - Heritage.org