The Embassy of the State of Eritrea in London refers to reports carried by supposedly reputable news outlets including Reuters, AFP, BBC and others about the hijacking on 20 August 2026 off the coast of Yemen of what they wrongly claim to be an “Eritrean flagged” oil tanker.
Source: Shabait
This bizarre story is astounding on many counts:
- The reports invariably cite the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) as the primary source of their “information”. The Eritrean Embassy in the UK wishes to clarify that in the first place, the report by UKMTO (UKMTO Hijack #118) makes no mention of the said ship being “Eritrean flagged”. UKMTO has re-iterated this fundamental fact to the Embassy in its response to its official request for clarification this week.
- Furthermore, all the information in the public domain about this ship shows that it is not owned by, and has no links whatsoever with, Eritrea. This ship is part and parcel of the growing number of ships in what the IMO categorizes, in its parlance, as the “Shadow Fleet”.
- Indeed, the IMO maintains that the ship (with Registration IMO 920476) is clearly categorized as being of “indeterminate ownership” in its official documents. Eritrea’s Permanent Mission to the IMO has confirmed that IMO records show that “the ship is flying a false Eritrean flag; i.e. as not owned or officially registered in Eritrea”.
These are the true facts. Yet, the usual culprits chose to abandon all semblance of journalistic standards to indulge and unleash another despicable campaign of disinformation on Eritrea.
Embassy of the State of Eritrea
Tuesday, 25 August 2026,
London, UK.
Below is the full UKMTO report 118
- Hijack UKMTO #118
20 August 2026
- UKMTO WARNING 118-26 – HIJACK Incident Date: 20 Aug 2026 Incident Time: TBC UKMTO has received a report of an incident 136NM east of Al Mukalla, Yemen. A tanker has broadcast a distress call on VHF 16 that they have been approached by an unauthorised vessel whilst travelling west in the Gulf of Aden. Update 001 – UKMTO have received confirmation that the tanker has been boarded by six armed persons who are now in control of the vessel and redirecting to Somalia. Authorities are investigating. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.
Reports from other organsations
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somali pirates hijacked an oil products tanker off Yemen, a Somali maritime security official said, the latest in a resurgence of piracy that has seen six commercial vessels seized since April across the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean.
Six armed pirates hijacked the Eritrean-flagged M.T. Sibu 1 on Thursday about 136 nautical miles (252 kilometers) east of al-Mukalla, Yemen, and took it toward Somalia’s Puntland coast, the official, who has knowledge of the incident, told The Associated Press on Friday. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not allowed to discuss the matter publicly.
The Sibu 1, managed by the UAE-based Qatrat Alnada Almasi Ship Management, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department last year for allegedly belonging to an Iranian “shadow fleet” used to transport petroleum products seeking to evade U.S. sanctions.
Where is the ship?
Oil Products Tanker SIBU 1 is currently located in the East Africa (reported 3 days, 8 hours ago)
What kind of ship is this?
SIBU 1 (IMO: 9204776) is a Oil Products Tanker and is sailing under the flag of ERITREA. Her length overall (LOA) is 177.9 meters and her width is 28 meters.
Iran-linked oil tanker falls victim to Somali piracy surge
By Aaron Ross
August 21, 20264:28 PM GMT+1Updated August 21, 2026
- Summary
- Sibu 1 was seized by six armed individuals, UKMTO says
- Attack marks at least 13th vessel targeted this year off Somalia or in Gulf of Aden
- IMB data shows five such attacks occurred in all of 2025
NAIROBI, Aug 21 (Reuters) – An oil tanker under U.S. sanctions for allegedly transporting Iranian petroleum products has become the latest victim of resurgent Somali piracy when it was boarded off the coast of Yemen and diverted toward Somalia.
The Eritrea-flagged Sibu 1 was seized on Thursday by six armed individuals, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). The tanker was sanctioned last December by the U.S. Treasury for allegedly being part of a shadow fleet that helps Iranian petroleum products evade U.S. sanctions.
There were only five such attacks in all of 2025, according to the IMB data.
Hundreds of attacks by Somali pirates from 2008 to 2014 created a security crisis in the western Indian Ocean that cost the global economy billions of dollars, including hundreds of millions of dollars in ransoms.
A coordinated international security response largely ended those attacks and a spate of hijackings in 2023 and 2024 also died down following a robust naval response.
But experts say the failure to address the root causes of piracy linked to poor economic and security conditions in Somalia mean it can always re-emerge.
“The piracy was always suppressed. It was never really fully eradicated,” said Timothy Walker, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria.
Experts have pointed to impacts of the Iran war on the piracy surge, including elevated oil prices that make tankers more attractive targets and the diversion of naval assets previously focused on piracy to the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea to deal with threats from Iran and its Houthi allies in Yemen.
Some have cited evidence of collaboration between the Houthis and Somali pirates after several vessels were seized near the Yemeni coast.
Jay Bahadur, a researcher and co-director of the Scopus Insights consultancy, said the seizure of an Iran-linked vessel like Sibu 1 made him very sceptical of Houthi links to the recent hijackings but added it was clear Somali pirates were receiving support from Yemeni nationals, including arms trafficking networks.
“You’re having these traditional, longstanding relationships built around arms trafficking and human smuggling built up between Yemeni criminal actors and Somali criminal actors,” he said.
Additional reporting by Natalia Chumakova Editing by Gareth Jones
2 Hijackings in 4 Days: Somali Piracy Rises
Experts worry that the conflict in Iran and other regional dynamics are setting the stage for a Somali pirates’ comeback.
By Pranav Baskar and Hussein Mohamed
Aug. 20, 2026
Somali pirates hijacked a suspected Iranian shadow fleet tanker off the coast of Yemen on Thursday, amid what experts say is the biggest surge in piracy in the region in more than a decade.
The oil tanker, the SIBU 1, flies an Eritrean flag. But it is likely part of Iran’s shadow fleet of ships exporting oil around the world, according to TankerTrackers.com, a company that monitors global oil shipping. The tanker has routinely ferried fuel to an oil terminal in the Yemeni port of Ras Isa that is controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, the company added.
SIBU 1 was the second ship hijacked by Somali pirates in a span of four days, according to officials in Somalia. Days earlier, a Cameroon-flagged cargo vessel carrying weapons was seized off the coast of the semiautonomous Somali region of Puntland, said Abshir Hashi Ali, the director general of the ministry of ports in the neighboring Galmadug State.
Years after a global naval campaign largely curbed the scourge of piracy, experts worry that the conflict in Iran — along with other factors, like regional rivalries and economic difficulties for local fishermen — is setting the stage for a comeback.
In the first five months of the year, more than 17 piracy-related incidents were documented across Somali waters and the Gulf of Aden, including the hijacking of at least three commercial ships and five dhow boats, according to the Center for Maritime Security.
Mr. Hashi, the local ports official, said that six ships are currently being held by Somali pirates, including the two seized this week. Across those ships, he added, more than 100 crew members are being held hostage.
The resurgence of piracy comes at a time when maritime blockades and fighting in crucial shipping routes — including the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz — have widened the opportunity for hijackings and ransoms.
“The most frequent successful spate of piracy attacks in almost a decade and a half are going virtually unnoticed on account of just how bad the maritime security picture is in the wider region,” said Ian Ralby, the president of the maritime governance nonprofit group, Auxilium Worldwide.
Col. Mohamed Jama, a senior security official at the Puntland Maritime Police force, said the SIBU 1 had been boarded by seven armed pirates about 130 miles off the coast of Yemen and diverted to Somali waters. He said that the condition of the 20-person crew was unknown.
The Cameroon-flagged cargo ship seized on Monday, the Lutuf, was sailing from Turkey to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, said Mr. Hashi, the local ports official.
Turkey and other regional powers, like the United Arab Emirates, have been vying for influence in Somalia. While Turkey has aligned with the government in Mogadishu, where it has a large military facility and trains dozens of Somali forces, the Emiratis have deepened their ties with the semiautonomous Puntland region, strategically located where the Gulf of Aden meets the Indian Ocean.
Hours after the Lutuf was hijacked off Puntland’s coast airstrikes targeted a suspected Somali pirate boat that had interacted with the pirates aboard the hijacked ship, Mr. Hashi said.
At least four people were killed in the strike, whose origin was unclear, he said.
Somali piracy has been a major problem in the Red Sea in recent decades, reaching a peak around 2010 when hundreds of vessels were seized, costing shipping companies and insurers billions of dollars, in part through ransom fees.
The numbers began to decline in part because of international naval coalitions involving NATO and the European Union. Ships also began traveling farther from Somalia’s coast and adding deterrents like water cannons.
In recent years, missiles and drones fired by the Houthis at Red Sea shipping in support of Hamas’s war against Israel in Gaza have posed a bigger threat to commercial vessels than piracy. The Houthis, a Yemeni militant group backed by Iran, paused their attacks on vessels last year. But they resumed threatening shipping in the sea this summer after declaring a blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea.
A series of attacks near Yemen’s coast has raised suspicions that Somali pirates and the Houthis are collaborating, experts and local officials say.
In May, Somali pirates hijacked an oil tanker off the coast of Yemen, the Togo-flagged Eureka, and directed it through the Yemeni part of the Gulf of Aden toward Somalia’s coast.
The Houthis and Somali pirates have cultivated an alliance over the years, with the militia at times providing technology and military backup. Analysts say the war in Iran and the resulting disruptions to oil shipping could give them more reason to work together as the high price of fuel presents an opportunity to profit.
But experts say there are also longer-term reasons for the current rise in piracy, like increased competition from Chinese and Spanish trawlers that has made fishing less lucrative in coastal communities, and the decline in maritime policing that armed gangs have taken advantage of.
Declan Walsh contributed reporting.
Martin Plaut 