UAE: Asphalt Princess hijacked; Iranians suspected

Asphalt Princess a Panama-registered cargo ship has been hijacked by up to 9 armed personnel off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. The hijacking was first reported on Tuesday by the UK’s Maritime Trade Agency as a potential hijack. The armed suspects are thought to be backed by Iran.

The tanker was making its way through the Arabian sea and towards the strait of Hormuz when it was ambushed by the personnel. An official from the State Department said it was ‘too early to call’ who was behind the disturbance and UK’s Foreign Office said it was ‘investigating this incident.’ Iran’s Revolutionary Guards however, have denied any involvement and further claimed the incident to be an excuse to pave the way for a planned attack on Iran.

Prior to this incident, an Israeli-managed tanker was also attacked last week by kamikaze styled drones off the coast of Oman. The United States, United Kingdom and Israel held Iran responsible for the attack that killed two crewmates, but Iran denied any involvement while their state-controlled media celebrated it.

Things are heating even further in the Middle East as an Iranian hardliner is about to take office on August 05. Israel reacted strongly against last week’s attack and experts are predicting a hardened and retaliatory stance from both Israel and Iran towards each other. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said Israel is raising the issue on the global stage for ‘global action’ against Tehran, but it also ‘knows how to act alone.’ Iran has already said and reiterated that it would respond to any threat to its security.

In the long run, Tehran would want the nuclear deal back, while Israel sees any nuclear deal with Iran as the biggest threat to its existence. A midground is nowhere in sight as has been the problem with the Middle East since World War 2, and with neither side backing down without a reaction we may not see peace between the two countries anytime soon, and the region along with the World will continue to suffer from attacks on commercial and civilian vessels.