The US military is preparing to seize Iran-linked oil tankers and merchant ships in international waters, The Wall Street Journal reports.
According to sources in the publication, the US plans to board such ships in the coming days, thus expanding the maritime blockade beyond the Middle East. The newspaper notes that in this way Washington is trying to control Iran-linked ships around the world, including tankers carrying Iranian oil out of the Persian Gulf and ships potentially carrying weapons for the Islamic Republic.
Following talks between Washington and Tehran on April 11, the US Central Command announced that on April 13 the US military would begin a naval blockade of Iran, stopping the movement of all ships heading to Iranian ports and trying to leave its coasts.