The Asphalt Princess tanker, which goes under the flag of Panama, captured off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is reported by the British edition of Sky News with reference to one of the United Kingdom security services.
It is assumed that the capture occurred at 97 kilometers from Fujaira Province. According to the publication, eight or nine armed people rose on board the vessel, turned off tracking systems and agreed into an unknown direction. Later it became known that the tanker went to the Ormuz Strait.
British interest
Immediately after the appearance of information about the seizure of the vessel in the UK Foreign Ministry said that British special forces participates in the investigation of the incident. The British side also allowed that Iran may be involved in the incident, the Times newspaper reported with reference to its sources. UK special services allegedly believe that Iranian military personnel or their allies took part in capturing in one way or another.
In Iran itself, they responded sharply on suspicion from the West. The building of the Guards of the Islamic Revolution (KSIR) rejected the involvement of the country to the hijack of the vessel. The Embassy of Iran in the UK stated that there are currently no information on new incidents with commercial ships in the Persian Gulf Region.
Persian triangle
It is noteworthy that shortly before the incident on the loss of control over the steering and engines, four oil tankers in the Oman Bill – Queen Ematha, Golden Brilliant, Jag Pooja and Abyss reported at once. All ships refused satellite trackers. As Reuters notes, the UAE did not immediately recognize the happening, despite the testimony of tracking means of marineetraffic.com.
At the same time, a similar situation with an attack on the ship occurred from August 1 to August 2. Then Romania, the USA, the United Kingdom and Israel accused Iran in the attack on the Mercer Street tanker off the coast of Oman. The ship belonging to the Japanese company went under the flag of Liberia and was managed by the Israeli operator Zodiac Maritime.
As it became known, one or more drone-kamikadze attacked the deck of the vessel, as a result of which a citizen of Romania and a citizen of Great Britain died. The head of the Romanian Foreign Ministry Bogdan Auresska condemned aggression against civilians. “We continue to coordinate with our partners a corresponding answer,” he warned.
On August 3, it became known that after the attack, the United Kingdom sent to the Middle East fighters from the elite units of a special boat service (SBS) and a special air service (SAS). Their main task will be the capture or elimination of those responsible for the attack on the tanker. In addition, they will participate in the training of local troops.
According to The Mirror, only several dozen fighters of elite units of British special forces, specialists in electronic struggle and a group of unmanned aerial vehicles are involved in the mission. It is known that the military will unite their efforts with special forces from the United States who work in the region. This should be a clear signal for Iran that the UK will not tolerate attacks on sea vessels in international waters, notes the British edition.