Tankers anchored in the straits of Hormuz.

Deborah Haynes – Sky News Aug 4, 2021

The “potential hijack” of an oil tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates is over, a Royal Navy threat centre has said after sources blamed the seizure on forces backed by Iran.

Tehran has denied any involvement.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations, which first revealed something had happened to the Asphalt Princess, said in an update on its website: “Boarders have left the vessel. Vessel is safe. Incident complete.”

It comes at a time of heightened tensions following a suspected Iranian drone attack on an Israeli-linked tanker less than a week ago that left a British national and a Romanian dead.

The British security guard has been named as Adrian Underwood, an army veteran and married father of one, on a crowdfunding site set up to raise money in his memory.

The UK, Israel and the United States have accused Iran of the fatal assault and vowed to respond.

British officials – so far – do not appear to regard the targeting of the Panama-flagged Asphalt Princess, operated by a company based in Dubai, as a new escalation, though there are clearly concerns about a ship allegedly being seized by Iranian-linked gunmen.

A security source said a group of eight or nine individuals were believed have boarded the ship on Tuesday.

“It was an unauthorised boarding in the Gulf of Oman,” the source said.

Two sources said it was highly probable the personnel were backed by Iran.

Continues …

Comment – Aug 4, 2021

Iran has categorically denied any involvement in the alleged hijacking, claiming the reports were part of a psyop against it.

So who were these alleged “Iranian-backed” hijackers and why did they abandon the seized vessel so quickly? It should be noted that Sky News doesn’t identify its sources for this information. So there is no way we can corroborate them.

This in turn lends weight to Iranian claims that the allegations are unfounded and actually part of a psychological campaign against the Islamic Republic. Ed.