Old footage of a tanker being seized by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz is being shared online alongside false claims which incorrectly suggest it shows the recent capture of an American ship.
The clip and screenshots of it which have been circulating on Facebook, shows the side of a ship which bears the words ‘IMO MAX’ and ‘STENA IMPERO’, being boarded by soldiers from a helicopter hovering overhead.
Captions with the recent versions shared say: “Reports circulate that an American tanker, which attempted to transit the Strait of Hormuz, is now in the custody of Iran.”
But this isn’t what this footage depicts. While it does show Iranian forces seizing a tanker, this took place in July 2019, and involved the seizure of the British-flagged vessel—the Stena Impero—in the Strait of Hormuz.
The same clip was posted by Iran’s Fars News Agency (which is affiliated with the country’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps) on 20 July 2019 on X with a caption (translated from Persian) saying: “The moment the British tanker was seized by the IRGC's marines.”
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