Iran's Revolutionary Guards denied that Iranian forces or allies were involved in action against any ship off the UAE coast on Tuesday, saying the incident was a pretext for "hostile action" against Tehran, Iranian state television said on its website.
"According to information from security sources, Iran's armed forces and all branches of the Islamic Resistance in the Middle East have nothing to do with the incident in the Gulf of Oman," the Guards said in a statement carried by the website.
It said the incident was a move by Western countries and Israel "to prepare the public opinion of the international community for hostile action against the honorable nation of Iran."
Three maritime security sources said earlier that Iranian-backed forces were believed to have seized an oil tanker in the Gulf off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, after Britain's maritime trade agency reported a "potential hijack" in the area.
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
