There are fears Iran has seized another ship after a small oil tanker from the United Arab Emirates travelling through the Strait of Hormuz turned off its tracker three days ago.
Iranian state media quoted its Foreign Ministry yesterday as saying it had helped a foreign oil tanker with a malfunction, but the report didn’t explain further.
The news came as Britain prepares to send a third warship to the region after Iran’s Supreme Leader threatened retaliation against the UK for its seizure of a tanker earlier this month.
However, a senior British Defence Ministry source said the deployments had been long-planned as part of the Britain’s maritime presence in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean, and insisted it was not related to Iran’s aggressive behaviour near the Strait of Hormuz over the past month.
An Emirati official said no distress call had been sent from the Panamanian-flagged Riah before its transponder was turned off late on Saturday night.
The ship’s unknown status has heightened concerns as Iran continues its own high-pressure campaign over its nuclear program after Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from a 2015 accord more than a year ago.
Recently, Iran has inched its uranium production and enrichment over the limits of the nuclear deal, trying to put more pressure on Europe to offer it better terms and allow it to sell its crude oil abroad.
Read the article in The Australian (AP, The Times).