Iran's navy

Oil prices have surged due to renewed concerns about the Middle East conflict. Brent crude futures increased by 0.32% to 90.80 USD per barrel, while American WTI crude rose by 0.3% to 86.50 USD per barrel. This comes amid fears of an Iranian strike on Israel following verbal threats by Iran in response to an Israeli attack on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria.

Iran's navy seized a ship off Oman to retaliate for the "theft" of its oil from the same tanker last year by the United States, state media said Thursday.

The United States condemned what it called an "unlawful seizure" and demanded Iran "immediately release the ship and its crew".

Iran's navy seized St Nikolas, the oil tanker associated with the Greek shipping company Empire Navigation, on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, Iranian media reported.  The oil tanker was once at the center of a major crisis between Tehran and Washington, officials said, a seizure that further escalated tensions in the Mideast waterways.

Two Iranian destroyers, sent to the Gulf of Aden to protect commercial ships, have reached the entrance of Bab el-Mandab, a strategic strait between Yemen and Djibouti, Iran's navy said April 30.

Iran launched extensive military drills on Dec. 25, local media reported, in a show of strength stretching several hundred kilometres from the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Aden.
      
The exercises are set to last six days and involve ballistic missile and drone testing, according to military officials.