Someone stole a Chinese-backed ‘floating armory’ near the Strait of Hormuz
There’s still a lot more questions than answers about what actually happened when a reported “floating armory” was seized near the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday morning. That incident is likely being watched closely by numerous nations, including the U.S.
“There are conflicting reports about exactly what has occurred,” Ian Ralby, president of Auxilium Worldwide, a charitable nonprofit based in Maryland that works on a variety of things including ocean governance, told Straight Arrow.
What we know
Among the limited facts of what happened, the U.K.’s Maritime Trade Operations, or UKMTO, confirmed that a vessel was seized in the Gulf of Oman near Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.
The BBC reports it’s been identified as the Honduras-flagged Hui Chuan. They said that the ship was operating as a floating armory, storing weapons for security firms who protect ships at sea from pirates.
“The Hui Chuan is a Chinese-beneficially owned vessel that is managed by a private security company with a maritime arm called Sinoguards that provides what we have been calling floating armory services for some period,” Ralby said.
Sinoguards has also put out a statement regarding the incident.
In that statement, they confirmed the vessel was seized and was taken into Iranian waters.
“We are cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities and have submitted the requested vessel and crew documentation,” the company said in a statement. “The safety and wellbeing of all personnel onboard remain our highest priority. At present, we have no indication of injuries among the crew.”
What’s unclear
A lot.
Including who actually seized this vessel and took it back into Iranian waters.
Especially at a time of ongoing turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz during the U.S. and Iran war.
“We don’t know what we’re looking at,” Ralby said. “We don’t know if this is a false information campaign. We don’t know if this is something that is truly a hostile act by Iran to try to antagonize or send a message to China of some sort.”
Ralby said the Iranians have a history of “high-context messaging,” or messages that are intended for only the other party in the conversation to understand.
He said some of the options could be that Iran is showing it has independence from China despite recent agreements between the Chinese and Iranians over cooperation in the Strait.
“The message is to suggest that China’s got sort of a special status, but it shouldn’t be seen as too special,” Ralby said.
Other options could be to show the U.S. that blockades of the Strait have not stopped Iranian ability to cross the Gulf of Oman unstopped and even return with another vessel.
This came as a senior Iranian official reiterated that his country controls the Strait.
It’s also unclear exactly what was on the ship.
Companies like Sinoguards often operate in international waters because anytime you bring weapons into another country, you must declare them. Otherwise, you could face charges of arms trafficking.
There could be as many as thousands of weapons onboard.
“We’re talking about semi-automatic weapons, usually a variety of different protective equipment, body armor, different vests, helmets, and other things that armed guards would use to protect a ship against an armed attack,” Ralby said.
Other factors
The seizure took place as President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
“I’m certain that the U.S. is monitoring it extremely closely, and I imagine that there was real-time awareness of this situation,” Ralby said. “So, the question is, what impeded the United States from acting?”
This incident also comes just a day after an Indian-flagged cargo vessel sank off the coast of Oman after being hit with missiles. That also took place very close to the Strait of Hormuz.
The ship was sailing from Somalia to the UAE. As of now, it’s unclear who attacked that vessel as well.
That incident also drew international attention because it involved a purely Indian ship with an Indian crew, as opposed to vessels like the Hui Chuan, which was operated by China under a Honduras flag and may have had a mixed-nationality crew.
“India is one of the other major powers that has a direct interest in what is happening in the Strait,” Ralby said. “So, the proximity of that indicates that there may be some conscious efforts to send messages.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
