Picture from Atlantique 2 MPA showing tanker St. Nikolas escorted by Iranian Navy patrol vessel. EMASOH picture.

Naval News reports,

Yesterday, on the 11th of January, the merchant vessel St. Nikolas was boarded by armed personnel southeast of the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Oman. The boarders were reported to be wearing military style black uniforms with black masks. The Company Security Officer (CSO) of the shipping company also reported that the vessel had altered course towards Iranian territorial waters and communications had been lost. Acting on initial external information, EMASoH sent out a French maritime patrol aircraft Atlantique 2 that rapidly located the ship, which was escorted by two Iranian Navy patrol vessels. The Atlantique 2 continued to monitor the ship’s movement until she entered Iranian territorial waters. She is now at anchor near Bandar Abbas.”

Have to say, my first reaction was, who or what is EMASoH? Wikipedia has the answer, European Maritime Awareness in the Strait of Hormuz. EMASoH is a,

 “…French-led maritime monitoring mission with the goal to protect maritime flows through the Strait of Hormuz. It is headquartered at the French naval base in Abu Dhabi and comprises a diplomacy track (EMASoH) and a military track (AGENOR).^[1] The mission has 9 participating countries including Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and, with political support, Germany and Portugal. These are all European countries, however EMASOH is not initiated by the European Union.”

The situation there is confusing. I have a hard time keeping up with the players. Looks like the Europeans are about to create their own naval defensive coalition to defend shipping in the Red Sea. Wonder if it will be under AGENOR?