The British navy announced that unidentified gunmen had departed the Asphalt Princess, an asphalt tanker sailing off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Gulf of Oman. The gunmen had boarded the Asphalt Princess the night of August 3, apparently to hijack it, but departed the vessel on August 4, according to the navy report. In a radio call to the Emirati coast guard during the attempted hijacking, one of the ship's crew reported that armed Iranians had boarded the ship. Satellite-tracking data showed the Asphalt Princess, owned by the UAE-based company Glory International, heading toward the Iranian port of Jask on August 4 before turning toward the Omani port of Sohar several hours later. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman denied Iran's involvement in the incident. The U.S. State Department said that it believed the nationality of the hijackers to be Iranian.