British Maritime Agency: A ship caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz. A British maritime agency reported on Monday that a ship caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz, at a time when the United States and Iran are locked in a dispute over control of this vital waterway.
In-depth research led to a video clip published by the Iranian Fars Agency on May 11 as part of a media tour in which a number of activists reviewed commercial ships anchored in the Strait of Hormuz. It does not document a landing or military control of an American ship, as was promoted by the accounts that recently republished it.
Details
The UK's Maritime Trade Operations Agency said it had "received a report of an incident eight nautical miles north-west of Kamzar in Oman".
She added that she had also received "information from military authorities that a ship had caught fire."
The agency indicated that the cause of the fire on board the ship has not yet been verified.
Coinciding with the entry of the new round of military escalation between the United States and Iran into its eighth day, social media platforms were filled with a video clip that its publishers claimed documented “the Iranian forces’ seizure of the largest American commercial ship” in the Gulf waters near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. It turned out to be misleading and taken out of its context.
Did Iran seize "the largest American ship" in the Strait of Hormuz?
The clip received hundreds of thousands of views, while neglecting to mention any details about the ship’s identity, and the accounts contented themselves with broadcasting phrases glorifying Tehran’s naval power.
Statements
“Information from military authorities indicating that a ship caught fire.”
