JAKARTA - A tanker is suspected to have been hijacked by forces linked to Iran in the Gulf, off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), three maritime sources said after a day earlier Britain's maritime trade body warned of potential piracy in the region.
Abolfazl Shekarchi, senior spokesman for Iran's armed forces, denounced reports of maritime incidents and piracy in the Gulf region as psychological warfare and setting the stage for a new offensive of adventure, Fars News Agency said.
Two of the maritime sources identified the seized vessel as the Panamanian-flagged asphalt tanker, Asphalt Princess in an area in the Arabian Sea that leads to the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's marine oil exports pass through.
The Times of London newspaper also reported that the tanker Asphalt Princess had been hijacked, citing British sources as saying, 'they were working on the assumption that Iranian military or proxies boarded the ship'. The United States Navy's (US) Fifth Fleet and UAE authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
In response to these conditions, the US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it expected the US to reposition at least one US warship in the vicinity of the Asphalt Princess for a closer watch. Officials said the move was to monitor the situation, rather than carry out a military operation.
This attack also comes after the attack on the Mercer Street tanker last week that killed Romanian and British crew members, drawing condemnation from Western countries and Israel, which has also pointed to Iran, although Tehran denies this.
The US State Department said it was concerned and investigating reports of maritime incidents in the Gulf of Oman, but it was too early to make an assessment. Meanwhile, the UK Foreign Office is immediately investigating an incident on a ship off the coast of the UAE, a spokesman said.
Yesterday the UK Maritime Trade Agency (UKMTO) in a warning notice based on a third party source, had previously reported "potential hijacking" and advised vessels to exercise extreme caution due to the incident about 60 nautical miles east of Fujairah, UAE.
On Tuesday, at least five ships at sea between the UAE and Iran updated their AIS tracking status to 'Not Under Command', according to Refinitiv ship tracking data. Such a status generally indicates the ship is unable to maneuver due to extraordinary circumstances.
Separately, Nour News, which is affiliated with Iran's main national security agency, quoted a senior navy official as saying, "the movement of commercial vessels is quite normal and no official naval sources or countries in the Persian Gulf have reported any incidents".
Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry said reports of maritime incidents in recent days were an attempt to create a false atmosphere against Tehran.
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