Asphalt Princess tanker hijacked in Arabian Sea

Oman has provided official confirmation that the Asphalt Princess tanker was involved in a hijacking in the Arabian Sea, after Britain’s maritime trade agency earlier reported the incident was over.

Oman’s Maritime Security Centre said on Twitter that it had received information about the Panama-flagged Asphalt Princess being subjected “to a hijacking incident in international waters in the Gulf of Oman” and that the sultanate’s navy had deployed several ships to help secure international waters.

The British navy said the hijackers who boarded a vessel off the coast of the UAE in the Gulf of Oman have left the targeted ship, without elaborating.

The Panama-flagged asphalt/bitumen tanker Asphalt Princess was earlier reportedly seized 60 nautical miles off Fujairah on the UAE’s east coast, in an area of the sea leading to the Strait of Hormuz.

British security sources said they were “working on the assumption Iranian military or proxies boarded the vessel.”

Iran’s foreign ministry said reports of security incidents involving several ships near the UAE coast were “suspicious,” and it warned of any effort to create a “false atmosphere” against Iran.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Iran was acting in a negative manner around the Middle East, endangering shipping, arming the Houthi militia in Yemen and contributing to Lebanon’s political deadlock.

Tensions have soared in the Gulf since an attack last week by explosives-laden Iranian drones on the MT Mercer Street off the coast of Oman, in which the tanker’s Romanian captain and a British security guard were killed.

For more information visit internal.mod.gov.om

26th July 2022