At least [six] ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates broadcasted warnings Tuesday that they had lost control of their steering under unclear circumstances as authorities reported “an incident” was underway in the area.
It wasn’t immediately clear what was happening off the coast of Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman, but Britain’s maritime trade agency reported that a “potential hijack” was taking place.
British sources believe one of the vessels, the Asphalt Princess, has been hijacked and are “working on the assumption Iranian military or proxies boarded the vessel”, the Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Two maritime sources also added they believe that Iranian-backed forces seized one of the oil tankers in the Gulf off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. A spokesperson of the U.K. Foreign Office said it was urgently investigating “an incident on a vessel off the UAE coast.”
Earlier, Britain’s maritime trade agency reported that a “potential hijack” was unfolding off the coast of the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah region, without giving details on the vessel or vessels involved.
The Times defense editor tweeted: “British sources believe Asphalt Princess has been hijacked. They are working on the assumption Iranian military or proxies have boarded vessel.”
Two of the vessels — an oil tanker called the Golden Brilliant and an asphalt carrier called the Kamdhenu — reported via their Automatic Identification System trackers that they were “not under command,” according to MarineTraffic.com. That typically means a vessel has lost power and can no longer steer.
Iran’s foreign ministry said reports of the incidents near the UAE coast on Tuesday were “suspicious” and warned against any effort to create a “false atmosphere” against Tehran.
“The reports on the occurrence of successive security incidents for ships in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman is completely suspicious,” a ministry website quoted spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying.
“(Khatibzadeh) warned of any effort to create a false atmosphere for special political purposes,” it added.
An Oman Royal Air Force Airbus C-295MPA, a maritime patrol aircraft, was flying over the area where the ships were, according to data from FlightRadar24.com.
The U.S. military’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet and the British Defense Ministry did not immediately return calls for comment. The Emirati government did not immediately acknowledge the incident.
In another development related to maritime traffic in the region, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised a “collective response” to an Iranian drone attack on an Israeli-managed tanker transiting through international waters near Oman last week.
The United States was confident that the attack last Friday was carried out by Iran, Blinken said on Tuesday. However, the secretary of state said that the attack was one in a series of actions taken by Iran over many months, and that he was not sure it was “anything new or augurs anything one way or another for the new government.”
Iran-backed forces said behind ‘potential hijack’ in Gulf of Oman
Iranian-backed forces have taken control of a tanker in the Gulf of Oman, reports said late Tuesday in an incident British authorities described as “a potential hijack.”
The report came after at least six ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates broadcast warnings Tuesday that they had lost control of their steering under unclear circumstances. It wasn’t immediately clear what was happening off the coast of Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman.
According to the Reuters news agency, which quoted two security maritime sources, Iranian-backed forces were believed to have seized one of the tankers.
Shipping authority Lloyd’s List and maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global both identified the vessel involved as Panama-flagged asphalt tanker Asphalt Princess. The vessel’s owner, listed as Emirati free zone-based Glory International, could not immediately be reached for comment late Tuesday.
The ship was heading towards Iran under the control of armed men, Lloyd’s List said.
Abolfazl Shekarchi, Iran’s senior armed forces spokesman, denounced reports of maritime incidents and hijacking in the Gulf area as “a kind of psychological warfare and setting the stage for new bouts of adventurism,” Reuters reported, citing the Fars News Agency said.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers and as commercial shipping in the region has found itself caught in the crosshairs. Most recently, the US, the UK and Israel have blamed Iran for a drone attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman that killed two people. Iran has denied involvement.
Earlier Tuesday, the six vessels announced around the same time via their Automatic Identification System trackers that they were “not under command,” according to MarineTraffic.com. That typically means a vessel has lost power and can no longer steer.
6 ships in Gulf of Oman lose control, days after vessel attacked by drones
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