USS Michael Murphy Appeared At Tense Iran Tanker Scene: Report

PATCHOGUE, NY — The USS Michael Murphy, named after the fallen U.S. Navy SEAL from Patchogue, appeared to be locked in a tense standoff with Iranian forces in the Sea of Oman in video footage released by Iranian media, according to a report in Newsweek.

An Iranian fast attack craft sailed between the Vietnamese-flagged tanker Sothys, which officials said was seized, on one side, and on the other, two Navy destroyers, including the Murphy and the USS The Sullivans, the outlet reported.

The Murphy is named after Lt. Michael Murphy, a Patchogue-Medford High School graduate, was killed while trying to call for help for his team after they were ambushed in Afghanistan in 2005. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2007. In a rare honor for a sailor, the ship, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, was commissioned in his name in 2012. Its home base has been Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

A U.S. defense official confirmed for Newsweek that Iranian forces seized an oil tanker last week but said that U.S. forces only observed the incident and there was no confrontation.

But the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting outlet reported that U.S. forces took over a tanker carrying Iranian oil, transferred it to another tanker, and then Iran's forces then used a helicopter to land on the second tanker, which allowed them to take control of it, the outlet reported.

The Revolutionary Guard confirmed the incident in a news release, saying that the tanker reached the southern port of Bandar Abbas on Oct. 25 and also accused the U.S. of piracy, Newsweek reported.

One U.S. official who declined to be identified by the outlet said: "We're refuting the Iranian claims that they prevented us from taking back this vessel. Here's the bottom line: This occurred last week. U.S. naval forces in the Gulf of Oman observed Iranian naval forces seize this oil tanker."

The official described for the outlet what on-scene U.S. forces had seen.

"There were over 10 Iranian fast boats that swarmed this thing," the official said. "There was a helicopter seen flying around, and, bottom line, our forces responded to monitor the situation."

The official said that the U.S. declined to release the incident's details last week "due to a number of sensitivities."

The official added to that statement by telling the outlet that "Iran is now spinning this against us, saying that they prevented us from taking back this vessel when it's very clear that our forces were simply there monitoring."

The outlet reported that the U.S. defense official Newsweek interviewed confirmed the tanker in question is in Iranian waters, and the Sothys is near Bandar Abbas.