The British navy on Tuesday warned of a “potential hijack” of a ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the West. Commercial shipping in the region has found itself in the crosshairs over it. Most recently, the US, the UK and Israel have blamed Iran for a drone attack on an oil tanker off Oman that killed two people. Iran has denied being involved.
The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations initially warned ships on Tuesday that “an incident is currently underway" off the coast of Fujairah. Hours later, they said the incident was a “potential hijack” without elaborating.
Earlier, six oil tankers announced around the same time via their Automatic Identification System trackers that they were “not under command”, according to MarineTraffic.com. That typically means a vessel has lost power and can no longer steer.