The British Navy warned on Tuesday that a ship was “potentially hijacked” off the coast of Britain. United Arab Emirates In the Gulf of Oman, no details were given.
The incident occurred as tensions between Iran and the West increased due to the nuclear agreement between Tehran and the world powers, and commercial shipping in the region found themselves caught in a crosshair. Recently, the United States, Britain and Israel accused Iran of launching a drone attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman, killing two people. Iran denies participation.
The British military’s British Maritime Trade Operation initially warned ships on Tuesday that “an incident is taking place” off the coast of Fujairah. A few hours later, they said the incident was a “potential hijacking” but did not provide more details.
The shipping authority Lloyd’s Register and Dryad Global, a maritime newspaper company, both confirmed that the vessel involved was the Asphalt Princess, an asphalt tanker flying the Panamanian flag. Late on Tuesday, the ship’s owner could not be immediately contacted, and the ship’s owner was listed as Glory International, headquartered in the UAE Free Zone.
The US Fifth Fleet in the Middle East and the British Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to calls for comment. The UAE government did not immediately acknowledge the incident.
According to MarineTraffic.com, earlier, six oil tankers simultaneously declared that they were “out of command” through its automatic identification system trackers. This usually means that the ship loses power and can no longer drive.
Ranjith Raja, an oil and shipping expert at data company Refintiv, said: “At the same time, if they are in the same vicinity and the same place, then this rarely happens.” “Not all ships do. At the same time it loses engine or steering capabilities.”
One of the ships later began to move.
According to FlightRadar24.com, a Royal Oman Air Force Airbus C-295MPA is a maritime patrol aircraft that hovered over the waters for several hours.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Said Khatibzad apparently responded to the incident, calling the recent maritime attack in the Persian Gulf “completely suspicious.” He denied that Iran was involved.
“The Iranian Navy is ready to provide help and rescue in the area,” Khatibzadeh said.
Just a few days ago, a drone attacked an oil tanker related to the Israeli billionaire off the coast of Oman, killing two crew members. The West blamed Iran for this attack, marking the first known attack that caused civilian deaths in the years-long shadow war against merchant ships in the region.
Although Tehran and its allied militia have used similar “suicide” drones in past attacks, Iran denies any role in this incident.
Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom vowed to provide a “collective response” to the attack, but did not elaborate.
The Gulf of Oman is close to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which one-fifth of the oil passes. Fujairah, located on the east coast of the UAE, is the main port in the region, where ships can load new oil cargo, pick up cargo, or exchange crews.
In the past two years, a series of explosions and hijackings occurred in the waters near Fujairah. The US Navy accused Iran of conducting a series of mine attacks on ships that damaged the tanker.
In July 2019, Iran seized the Stena Impero flying the British flag in the Strait of Hormuz. The ship was heading for Dubai from the Iranian port of Abbas. The raid was carried out after the authorities in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar seized an Iranian supertanker carrying US$130 million in crude oil, suspecting that the tanker had violated EU sanctions by transporting oil to Syria. Both ships were later released.
Last year, after months of tensions between Iran and the United States, an oil tanker sought by the United States for allegedly evading sanctions against Iran was hijacked off the coast of the UAE in July. The ship and its crew finally arrived in Iran, despite Tehran’s The incident was not acknowledged.
In January of this year, the armed forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards attacked a South Korean oil tanker, forcing the ship to change course and head to Iran. Although Iran insisted that it stopped the ship on the grounds of pollution, at the same time, Tehran tried to increase its influence in Seoul before negotiating the freezing of billions of dollars in Iranian assets in the Bank of Korea.
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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi contributed to this report in Tehran, Iran.
© 2021 Canadian Press
