"My team ran a Persian search today and found no reports about an Iranian seizure of an Indian-flagged oil tanker. I have also not seen anything in Israeli or Arab media," Brian Carter, the Middle East portfolio manager for the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project, told The Dispatch Fact Check. "Iranian, Arab, and Israeli media would have almost certainly reported these incidents if they occurred."

While there is no evidence of this particular seizure, oil tankers and their associated firms do occasionally feature in the geopolitical tug-of-war between the U.S. (and Israel) and Iran. In early December, the U.S. placed sanctions on several entities -- including two Indian firms -- that transported Iranian oil, and an additional Indian firm was included in a wave of U.S. sanctions issued on Thursday. Iranian state media also announced this week that it would auction off two oil tankers seized in 2022 for oil smuggling. In January 2024, Iran also seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker bound for Turkey in retaliation for the seizure of the same vessel by the U.S. in 2023.