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  6.  » ‘Potential hijack’ of oil tanker underway off the UAE coast just days after Iranian kamikaze drone strike in the Gulf

Above: an oil tanker burns off the Syrian coast in April. Given that Syria receives its oil from Iran and the fire was started by a suspected drone attack, Israel was seen as a potential culprit. Are the latest attacks on shipping in the region Iranian retaliation, or Israeli false flags?

  • United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported a ‘non-piracy incident’
  • The Royal Navy affiliated agency said incident involved tanker off coast of UAE
  • No further information regarding the vessel or vessels involved was provided
  • Comes just days after an oil tanker was struck by a kamikaze drone off Oman
  • Britain, Israel and the US blamed Iran for the strike that left two dead

Ross Ibbetson – Daily Mail Aug 3, 2021

– A “potential hijack” was unfolding off the coast of the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah region on Tuesday, Britain’s maritime trade agency reported.

The UKMTO warning, based on a third party source, advised vessels to exercise extreme caution in the area, around 61 nautical miles east of the Emirati port city of Fujairah. It did not give details on the vessel or vessels involved.

It comes just days after a deadly drone attack on an Israeli-managed oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman which Britain and the US have blamed on Tehran.

Continues …

Comment – Aug 3, 2021 (18:50 GMT)

As UK (and no doubt U.S.) Special Forces investigate possible Iranian involvement in readiness for a possible retaliatory strike, more reports are coming in of disruptions to shipping in the region.

According to Hal Turner Radio Show, an oil tanker is ablaze and severely damaged after it hit a naval mine in the Gulf of Oman.

Other ships in the vicinity immediately dropped anchor and stopped moving over the possible presence of additional mines in the water nearby.

This is now a MAJOR disruption of shipping into and out of the Persian Gulf.   How long it lasts depends on how long it may take mine sweepers to make certain the area is clear.   Oil availability may be impacted by this situation.

This will have a major impact on shipping in the region, a critical route for oil supplies, which will in turn have a global economic consequences.

Update:

The UKMTO has updated its earlier warning. According to Sky News:

UK Maritime Trade Operations, a part of the Ministry of Defence, described the incident around 60 miles (97km) east of Fujairah as a “potential hijack”.

A group of eight or nine armed individuals are believed to have boarded the vessel, named Asphalt Princess, the security source told Sky News.