Given that the vessel is flagged under the Marshall Islands, which the United States bears security responsibility for, the U.S. Navy dispatched the destroyer USS Farragut after receiving a distress call from the Maersk Tigris.
[3] The vessel's charterer, the Danish shipping company Maersk, said Iran's seizure of a commercial vessel engaged in innocent passage through Iran's territorial waters in the internationally recognized shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz was illegal.
[5] In February 2015, an appeals court in Tehran ordered Maersk Line to pay the Iranian company $163,000.
The Iranian company then appealed the case, seeking more money, which led to the $3.6 million judgment.
Maersk said it had only learned on April 30 of the Iranian appeals court $3.6 million ruling, but that it had "not received any written or formal confirmation that the seizure and the cargo case are connected.