Before losing control: Accusations against Tehran of targeting international navigation

Eslam Mohamed

With negotiations faltering between Tehran and the P5+1 group, which includes the United States, Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain, on returning to the nuclear agreement, tension is escalating in the Gulf region near the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly a third of the world’s seaborne oil shipments pass.

Against ships

The region witnessed several attacks against merchant ships passing through there, with accusations of Tehran carrying out the attacks, amid conflicting statements between the Iranian authorities about their responsibility.

Under control

According to Sky News, the Commercial Maritime Operations Control Center in Britain announced on Wednesday, August 4, the end of the attack that occurred on a tanker in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday evening, after the hijackers left the tanker.

Reuters quoted the center as saying, “The end of the attack took place after the intruders left the ship,” noting that the tanker was in safe condition.

Warnings

The UK Maritime Trade Operations Agency (UKMTO) announced on Tuesday a possible hijacking of the Asphalt Princess tanker, which is flying the Panamanian flag in the Gulf of Oman, calling on ships to exercise extreme caution in the region, while the British newspaper The Times accused “Iran and its allied militias” of being behind the attack.

The website Marine Traffic, which specializes in monitoring maritime transport, stated that the ship was heading to the port of Sohar in the Sultanate of Oman. The website of British magazine Lloyd’s List, which is a reference in marine navigation data, indicated that the ship headed to the coast of Iran under the supervision of armed men.

Meanwhile, five ships off the coast of the UAE broadcast warnings that they “lost control of the leadership and could not continue their activities.”

This attack, which took place about sixty nautical miles from the UAE city of Fujairah, came five days after an attack on an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, which resulted in two deaths. Israel and the United States accused Iran.

Iranian television claimed responsibility for the attack, while the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied any connection to the attack on the tanker operated by a company owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.

The United States and Israel said their intelligence services had concluded that an Iranian drone carried out the attack.

“The first information is of great concern,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday, commenting on what was reported by the UKMTO, and State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “We have observed hostile behavior of great concern on the part of Iran.”

For his part, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh warned on Tuesday that “publishing information about successive attacks related to ships… raises great suspicion.”

Khatibzadeh warned in a tweet against “creating a wrong situation to serve political goals, and displaying Tehran’s willingness to provide any assistance in the event of maritime attacks.”