TEHRAN: Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said Wednesday they had thwarted an attempt by the US Navy to seize a tanker in the Sea of Oman carrying its oil.

The sequence of events was initially reported by state television, without specifying the date.

In a statement on its website Sepahnews, the IRGC later suggested that the incident occurred over a week ago.

It said US forces had seized the tanker laden with oil and "transferred its cargo to another tanker".

The IRGC's naval forces, with air support, subsequently captured the second tanker, thwarting a second attempt by the US Navy to retake the tanker, according to the statement.

The report said that the "Americans had left the area" and that the tanker had docked at Bandar Abbas port at 8:00am (0430 GMT) on October 25.

The IRGC did not specify the country where the vessels are registered.

The announcement comes amid faltering efforts to revive Iran's nuclear deal with world powers that would see a lifting of US sanctions on its oil exports.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Washington had lifted its sanctions on Iran's oil exports in return for strict limits on its nuclear activities.

But in 2018, then president Donald Trump abandoned the agreement and reimposed the sweeping sanctions.

President Joe Biden has expressed willingness to rejoin the deal in exchange for Iran returning to the limits on its nuclear activities, but talks on the practicalities have been suspended since June.