Iran resumes enriching uranium up to 20% purity on same day it seizes S. Korean tanker

Revolutionary Guard reportedly stopped MT Hankuk Chemical for "polluting" in Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz

The MT Hankuk Chemi, a South Korean vessel that’s reportedly been seized by Iranian authorities. (Reuters/Yonhap News)

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has seized a South Korean oil tanker.

Iranian state-run television reported on Jan. 4 that Tehran had seized a South Korean oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the AP and other news. Iranian authorities reportedly stopped the vessel MT Hankuk Chemi on suspicions of polluting the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. An official with Iran’s Fars News Agency explained, “The Iranian Revolutionary Guard navy has seized the vessel in question.”

The AP, Reuters, and other news outlets previously reported that the South Korean oil tanker appeared to have been seized that day after entering Iranian territorial waters en route from Saudi Arabia to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Satellite data from the vessel tracking site MarineTraffic.com showed the MT Hankuk Chemi in the waters off Bandar Abbas without explanation. The AP reported that the company that owns the vessel could not be reached, adding that Iranian authorities had not offered confirmation regarding the vessel’s seizure.

At the same time, the agency also reported the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) as having acknowledged an “interaction” between a South Korean merchant vessel and Iranian authorities. As a result, the vessel in question changed course northward to enter Iranian waters. Commander Rebecca Rebarich, a spokesperson for the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, said the fleet was “monitoring the situation,” according to Bloomberg.

Shortly before news broke of the South Korean tanker’s seizure, it was also reported that Iran had resumed its enrichment of uranium to 20% purity amid tensions with the US. The Guardian and other outlets are focusing on a possible connection — as yet unconfirmed — between the two developments. The day before marked the one-year anniversary of the deaths of seven people, including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, in a US military air raid on the morning of Jan. 3, 2020.

Ali Rabiei, spokesperson for the Iranian government, told the partially state-run Mehr News Agency on Jan. 4 that “the enrichment of uranium up to 20% purity began a few minutes ago at the Fordo enrichment facility.”

On Jan. 1, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced Iran as having reported its plans to enrich uranium up to 20% purity at its Fordo facility following its parliament’s recent passage of related legislation.

While Iran previously succeeded at enriching uranium up to 20%, it agreed to restrict enrichment to 3.67% or less over the next 15 years when it signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with the US and five other major countries in 2015. But in 2018, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran agreement, despite objections from the other signatories, and moved to unilaterally resume sanctions against Iran. Tehran subsequently moved to enrich its uranium up to 4.5%.

In November 2020, Iranian physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, known as the “father of Iran’s nuclear program,” was assassinated in a targeted strike by the US. The Iranian parliament went on to overwhelmingly approve legislation for enriching uranium and constructing new centrifuges at its Natanz and Fordo facilities.

By Jeon Jeong-yun, staff reporter

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