A group of armed men reportedly seized an oil tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, after the UK maritime trade agency warned of a "potential hijack" in the area.The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations initially warned ships in the area that “an incident is currently underway" off the coast of Fujairah before hours later saying it was a “potential hijack.”
A tanker was suspected to have been boarded and taken control of by Iranian-backed forces, Whitehall sources had suggested to ITV News.
Satellite-tracking data for the vessel showed it slowly heading towards Iranian waters off the port of Jask early Wednesday, according to MarineTraffic.com.
The vessel believed to be under siege is the Panama-flagged Asphalt Princess.
The Foreign Office is closely monitoring the situation, with a spokesperson saying: “We are urgently investigating an incident on a vessel off the UAE coast."
ITV News Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen reports on the serious incident underway near the port of Fujairah, in the UAE
Earlier, four oil tankers announced around the same time via their Automatic Identification System trackers that they were “not under command,” according to MarineTraffic.com.
That typically means a vessel has lost power and can no longer steer. One of them later began moving.
Iran, which was blamed for a recent tanker attack which killed a British national, has apparently already denied responsibility for the incident off the UAE coast.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the West over its tattered nuclear deal and as commercial shipping in the region has found itself in the crosshairs over it.
The country’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh amid the incident, calling the recent maritime attacks in the region “completely suspicious.” He denied that Iran was involved.
“Iran’s naval forces are ready for help and rescue in the region,” Mr Khatibzadeh said.
From Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters it was “too early for us to offer a judgement just yet” about the events unfolding in the Gulf of Oman.
But citing the recent oil tanker assault, Price said, “We have seen a very disturbing pattern of belligerence from Iran, including belligerence in the maritime domain.”
Boris Johnson, also blaming the country for last week's tanker attack, said it "should face the consequences of what they have done".
Asked if the UK would consider military action as part of its response to the attack, the prime minister said: "I think that Iran should face up to the consequences of what they have done, accept the attribution that the Foreign Secretary has made.
"This was clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping, a UK national died. It is absolutely vital that Iran and every other country respects the freedoms of navigation around the world, and the UK will continue to insist on that."
Israel, the United States and United Kingdom have vowed an unspecified “collective response” to the attack.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lml0di5jb20vbmV3cy8yMDIxLTA4LTAzL3BvdGVudGlhbC1oaWphY2stdW5kZXJ3YXktb2Ytc2hpcC1vZmYtdWFlLWNvYXN0LXNheXMtdWstbWFyaXRpbWUtdHJhZGUtYWdlbmN50gEA?oc=5
2021-08-04 01:59:29Z
52781774226053
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar