VoltA ship may have been hijacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman. The British Maritime Warning Center (UKMTO) initially issued a warning on Tuesday due to an “incident” about 60 nautical miles east of the Emirate of Fujairah. It said that all nearby ships should be “very careful.” Soon after, UKMTO issued another warning of “possible kidnapping”.
According to Dryad Global, a company specializing in maritime safety, a tanker flying the Panamanian flag, the Asphalt Princess, will participate. It said that the Omani Air Force is operating with maritime reconnaissance aircraft in the area.exist Website Flightradar24 Someone saw a reconnaissance plane hovering over the area. The Gulf of Oman is located between Oman and Iran.
Initially, there was no official confirmation of this incident. At first it was not clear how many ships were involved, and who was behind the so-called ships. Kidnapping It may get stuck.
The British “Times” quoted government sources as saying that a “troop” composed of eight or nine armed men put the “Asphalt Princess” under their control. CNN did the same thing. The London government believes that Iran or its militias are responsible for the kidnapping. The British Foreign Office stated that it “is urgently investigating an accident on a ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.”
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the incident as “suspicious” and warned against making baseless accusations against Iran again. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saidi Boussad said: “These consecutive incidents of Persian Gulf ships are very questionable and doubtful.” Most importantly, these incidents should not be used as an excuse to achieve certain political goals in the region. According to the Esna News Agency, the spokesperson said that for Iran, the safety of shipping in the Persian Gulf is extremely important, so Tehran is also prepared to provide assistance.
Ships enter the Persian Gulf through the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. This route is considered to be one of the most important sea passages for international trade.
The situation in the area is particularly tense for navigation. There have been events again and again. Recently, a British man and a Romanian captain were killed in a drone attack on the oil tanker Mercer Street in the Persian GulfThe United Kingdom, Romania, Israel and the United States blamed this incident on Iran. Iran refuses to accept hints.
The background to the increased tension in the Middle East in recent years is, among other things, the dispute with Iran on the international nuclear agreement. The United States unilaterally terminated the agreement in May 2018. Since then, there have been many incidents and acts of sabotage against oil tankers and attacks on oil facilities in the Gulf region. The most recent incident occurred a few days before the inauguration of Iran’s new President Ibrahim Raisi.
