Tanker Involved in Incident with Military off Oman Coast

JAKARTA - The British Navy received reports of an incident off the coast of Oman involving tankers and military forces in the region.

UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it received a report regarding an incident involving a merchant ship and military forces at a location about 100 miles east of the port of Duqm, Oman.

"The report indicates that the tanker was involved in an interaction as part of ongoing military activities in the region," the UKMTO statement said, as reported by CNN, Friday, July 17.

UKMTO did not provide further details other than saying the source of the report was "military authorities." The incident was reported to have occurred on Thursday, July 16.

It was not immediately clear if the vessel, which was not identified, was intercepted as part of a renewed US naval blockade of vessels using Iranian ports.

On Thursday, the US Central Command (US Central Command) said Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit had conducted "a verification inspection aboard the M/T Wen Yao in the Gulf of Oman."

Wen Yao is a tanker registered in Curacao that was sanctioned and has been renamed Lan Jing.

The ship's last position, reported on Thursday, was in the same area as the location of the incident reported by UKMTO.