The UK Maritime Trade Organization says the oil tanker that was hijacked on Thursday by six armed individuals in the Gulf of Aden was a member of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s “shadow fleet” used to get around US oil sanctions.

After the tanker was seized by armed individuals off the coast of Yemen, it changed course toward Somalia.

The oil tanker “Sibou 1,” flying the Eritrean flag, was captured on Thursday by six armed individuals. The ship was part of a “shadow fleet” to help circumvent US sanctions against exports of Iran’s refined petroleum products, and the US Treasury had sanctioned it in December of last year.

Based on data from the International Maritime Bureau, the aforementioned tanker is at least the 13th ship this year that has been targeted in Somalia’s coast or the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen. This comes while, in the entirety of 2025, only five such attacks had been recorded.