The British navy warned of a “potential hijack” of a ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday, though the circumstances remained unclear. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) had in an earlier warning notice on Tuesday, based on a third-party source, advised ships to exercise extreme caution due to an incident approximately 60 nautical miles (111km) east of Fujairah.
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 U.S., the U.K. and Israel have blamed Iran for a drone attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman that killed two people. Shipping authority Lloyd’s List and maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global both identified the vessel involved in the incident as Panama-flagged asphalt tanker Asphalt Princess. The vessel’s owner, listed as Emirati free zone-based Glory International, could not immediately be reached. Iranian-backed forces are believed to have seized the ship, three maritime security sources told the Reuters news agency. Apparently responding to the incident, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh as calling the recent maritime attacks in the region “completely suspicious”. He denied that Iran was involved.
