ISLAMABAD: China on Tuesday rejected “false association” and “speculation” regarding a vessel seized by the US in the Gulf of Oman on April 19, saying it was a foreign container ship, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Office.

At a regular press conference, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded to a question about a post on X by the former US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, who wrote that the “Iranian-flagged ship” intercepted by the US over the weekend had been traveling “from China” and had been used to “carry chemicals for missiles.”

The Chinese foreign office spokesperson said that the vessel seized by the US is a foreign container ship.

“China rejects any false association and speculation” regarding the ship, the statement said.

CENTCOM confirmed on Sunday that the US Navy fired at the Iranian-flagged vessel after it allegedly violated a US maritime blockade.

“US forces operating in the Arabian Sea enforced naval blockade measures against an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel attempting to sail toward an Iranian port, April 19,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.

“American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the US blockade,” CENTCOM said.

Iran’s foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned the confiscation of the Iranian cargo ship Touska by the United States, and called for the “immediate release of the vessel, its sailors, crew and their families”.

“The act, which involved the intimidation of the ship’s sailors, crew, and their families, constitutes maritime banditry and a terrorist act,” the Iranian foreign ministry said.

vessel seized

China rejects ‘false association’ over US seizure of vessel linked to Iran