Hijacked oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranians are suspected
Iranian-backed forces are believed to have seized an oil tanker in the Gulf off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, three maritime security sources said, after the British Maritime Trade Agency reported on Tuesday a "potential hijacking" in the United Arab Emirates. 'area.
Incoming reports that the oil tanker ASPHALT PRINCESS has been boarded and seized by Iranian forces. pic.twitter.com/0gTwGGSeC0
– Atlas News (@Atlas_News_) August 3, 2021
Two of the sources identified the ship as the Panamanian-flagged Asphalt Princess asphalt / bitumen tanker in an area of the Arabian Sea leading to the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for about a fifth of the world's oil exports by sea.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry had previously said that reports of security incidents involving several ships near the UAE coast on Tuesday were "suspicious" and appeared to be efforts to create a "false atmosphere" against the Islamic Republic.
Tension erupted in the region after an attack on an Israeli-operated oil tanker off the coast of Oman last week killed two crew members and was blamed by Iran of the United States, Israel and Britain. Iran has denied responsibility.
The Bahrain-based United States Navy Fifth Fleet and UAE authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Tuesday's incident.
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), in a notice based on a third party source, had previously reported a "potential hijacking" and advised ships to exercise extreme caution due to the incident about 60 nautical miles east of the country. emirate of Fujairah of the United Arab Emirates.
The British Foreign Office is "urgently investigating" an accident on a ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a spokesman said.
British sources believe Asphalt Princess has been hijacked. They are working on the assumption Iranian military or proxies have boarded vessel https://t.co/2eETCX9i74
– Larisa Brown (@larisamlbrown) August 3, 2021
Although it is not certain, the great likelihood that the hijacking action of the ship is due to Tehran comes to ignite the tension again a few days after the drone attack on the ship in use by an Israeli shipping company. We don't think this will be the last such episode.
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The article Oil tanker hijacked in the Strait of Hormuz. IS suspected of the Iranians comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/petroliera-dirottata-nello-stretto-di-hormuz-si-sospetta-degli-iraniani/ on Wed, 04 Aug 2021 06:00:18 +0000.