May 14, 2015
UAE coastguard escorts Singapore ship to Dubai after Iran firing
The Iran Revolutionary Guard navy fired warning shots in international waters
Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces fired warning shots at a Singapore-flagged commercial ship in international waters in the Gulf on Thursday, before vessels from the UAE came to the ship’s aid, US officials said.
The Iranian patrol craft fired across the bow of the Alpine Eternity in international waters and the commercial ship then headed towards the UAE, two defense officials said.
The Alpine Eternity issued a radio call for help to the UAE and the Iranian boats fired a second wave of warning shots, the officials said.
UAE authorities heard the radio call and deployed coast guard boats in response. The Iranian boats then departed the area, the officials said.
A US naval ship was 32 kilometers away from the Alpine Eternity but received no request for assistance, officials said.
The incident reflected rising tensions in the Gulf in recent weeks after Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel and warned the United States not to interfere with an Iranian aid ship headed for Yemen. The commercial cargo ship was later released, after Iranian officials said a commercial dispute had been settled.
The Alpine Eternity is an oil-chemical tanker that had last stopped at a port in Bahrain, according to the marinetraffic.com shipping website. The ship is listed as part of the fleet of Transpetrol, a commercial shipping firm that transports oil and gas, with offices in Belgium, Bermuda, Norway and Switzerland.
UAE coastguard escorts Singapore ship to Dubai after Iran firing | GulfNews.com
----------------------------------
May 14, 2015
Iranian boats fire warning shots at Singapore-flagged ship
Iran appeared to be trying to intercept a Singapore-flagged commercial ship on Thursday in order to settle a legal dispute, a US official said.
The Alpine Eternity – a 29,130 gross tonnes oil products tanker – reportedly hit an Iranian-owned oil platform on March 22.
“Iran claims that the vessel is liable for damages to the oil platform,” the US official said.
An official at the UAE’s Coast Guard said that the cargo ship came under fire from four Iranian boats on international Gulf waters.
The source said that the ship sent a distress call to the UAE Coast Guard forces who responded by helping it to reach the Jebel Ali port, according to the official Wam agency.
The Alpine Eternity has safely reached the UAE port of Jebel Ali, its manager confirmed.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, were unaware of any US navy involvement.
A spokesman for the vessel’s Norwegian manager Transpetrol said the incident happened at 12pm UAE time on Thursday on its way to the UAE port of Fujairah.
“The nature of the attack is still unclear,” the spokesman said. “She reached UAE waters and she is in the port of Jebel Ali now. The vessel is safe and there are no injuries to crew.”
The spokesman said the incident had been reported to Singaporean authorities.
A second US official said there were about five Iranian ships and described the shots as “small arms fire”.
“Once the ship went into UAE territorial waters, the Iranian ships broke off,” the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
Iran, currently in a standoff with a Saudi-led coalition over security inspections of one of its own cargo ships, last month intercepted a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
It forced that ship into Iranian waters by firing shots across its bow.
Saudi-led forces have imposed inspections on ships entering war-torn Yemen in an attempt to prevent weapons being smuggled to the Iran-allied rebel Houthi group that controls much of the country.
Iran complained to the UN Security Council of the Saudi-led coalition’s forces hindering its attempts to send aid to Yemen as a standoff loomed on Wednesday over an Iranian cargo ship bound for the Arabian Peninsula.
Millions of barrels of oil pass through the Bab Al Mandeb and Strait of Hormuz every day to Europe, the United States and Asia, waterways which pass along the coasts of Yemen and Iran respectively.
Iranian boats fire warning shots at Singapore-flagged ship | The National
