The Guardian:

There are fears a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker that stopped transmitting its location after straying into Iranian waters may have been hijacked by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

US intelligence is concerned the ship could have become a victim of Iranian manoeuvres intended to put pressure on the US to lift crippling economic sanctions as it travelled through the strait of Hormuz, a vital route for oil shipping.

The tracking report of the Panamanian ship MT Riah from MarineTraffic.com showed the vessel began its journey near a port off the coast of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on 5 July. It was then tracked near the coast of Ras al-Khaimah before changing course and travelling north towards Iranian waters, after which it stopped transmitting its signal on Sunday morning at about 4.30am local time (0100 BST).

Its last known location was in Iranian territorial waters near Qeshm Island, where the Revolutionary Guards have a base.

Ranjith Raja, an analyst at the data firm Refinitiv, said the tanker had not switched off its tracking in three months of trips around the UAE. “That is a red flag,” he said.

The ship had been operating in the UAE between the cities of Sharjah and Fujairah over the past year and is owned by Prime Tankers, which operates out of Dubai.

The UAE has insisted it does not own or operate the ship, and no distress signals had been sent. The country said it was working with its international partners to discover the ship’s location.

Donald Trump did not comment on the tanker on Tuesday but claimed he was making a lot of progress with Iran and said he was not looking for regime change, but set conditions on talks including a withdrawal from Yemen. Iran denies it has any presence in the country.

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