Empire Goes Mental…and Other Head Games

Steve Kelly

 July 31, 2026

FacebookTwitterRedditBlueskyEmail

Image by Mike Newbry.

Nature is under siege. America’s debt slaves are paying for it. I know, duh!

Across Montana and the mountainous territories of the Northern Rockies ecosystem the Trump administration’s psychotic ‘flood-the-zone,’ scorched earth strategy is in full swing. Violent mechanical attacks target wilderness, critical wildlife habitat, remnant fragments of old growth forest, clean air, and clean water – liquidation and industrial-strength destruction, simultaneously.

Congress, most federal judges, and the Trump administration shamelessly subsidize habitat loss and species extinction.

Now in full-tantrum mode, Washington politicians and their brain-dead agency bootlickers (“just following orders”) have turned “regular congressional order” into Zio-Pseudo-Christian suck up sessions. Billionaire interlopers want to domesticate and convert millions of public wildlands into playgrounds.

These sick paternalistic nobodies use money and power to grab territory, destroy Mother Nature and all representations of the sacred feminine. It’s all very Old Testament redux.

“Flood the Zone” Political Strategy

Overloading the zone is the current preferred political strategy driving everyone crazy. Its objective is to create chaos, confusion and exhaustion in the media and cultural institutions. Information broadcast from a high-volume firehose, especially controversial executive orders and unprecedented supreme court decisions presented in a TV reality show format, kills honest debate by wearing down media newsrooms and overwhelming audiences until the psychological noise and its associated cognitive dissonance is normalized. It’s all part of the oligarchic plan behind fragmenting and annihilating any possibility of joining/rejoining that which is never meant to be apart. These are the twisted masterminds/puppeteers, funding, producing and directing Trump’s hyperreality show.

Information overload is designed to combine neoliberal (“supply-side”) economics with Zio-Pseudo-Christian literalist doctrine, presented ad nauseam in rapid-fire Trumpisms (extemporaneous cartoon dramas). When aggregated and force-fed to consumers, information overload conditions us to unlearn our natural ability to discern by robbing us of our instinctive ability to feel. It is important to understand how flooding the zone feeds multiple oligarchic worldwide aims: 1) human sacrifice/depopulation, 2) extending social control, 3) maximizing deterrence, and 4) global domination over individuals and nations. Mass neurosis is exhausting, it overwhelms and neutralizes much of the opposition.

In reality, it is indifference that rules over the kingdom of difference; there is no longer any concern here with distinguishing between true or false or between liberty and irresponsibility. This is a tangible indifference. – Annie le Brun, Reality Overload, p. 195. (2000).

Contemporary Innovations of Capitalism

Empire’s power grab for territory is seen clearly in the forced starvation and genocide in Gaza, as in perpetual war, as in the slaughter of wild Yellowstone buffalo entering Montana for a bite to eat, and as in native forests being “treated” (bulldozed, clearcut, torched by government arsonists, and masticated to feed more cows). This territorial power grab has now migrated into the sensory cultural realm, increasing human insensitivity, and degrading our relationships with other living beings and our natural environment.

All relationships are threatened by secular techno-geeks and religious fanatics – God’s chosen people – determined to replace natural interdependencies with their calamitous belief in fictitious materialism. History and critical meaning are diluted altered, and gradually erased, as powerful commercial forces subvert and replace the imaginary, the creative, and the natural rhythms of the magical with the mechanical and virtual. Models and virtual realities eat away at our memory, robbing us of the dream that once illuminated solitude and spaces that transcend beyond our known horizons. Technology keeps arresting human potential by pushing aside dreams with machine-made virtual hyperreality.

Imagine and Prepare the Transition Toward a New Era

“Oh my brothers, am I perhaps cruel? But I say: if something is falling, one should also give it a push! Everything of today – it is falling, it is failing: who would want to stop it! But I–I want to push it too!” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra

A strong and growing grassroots resistance movement is fighting against privatization of public lands, weaker environmental laws, and the spiraling downward trends toward mass extinctions and meaningless (sometimes zero) public participation.

The system’s theft of our imagination threatens the fundamental ground of our continued existence. How will we overcome this piracy, these psychotic pirates?

It is time for all passionate freethinkers to emerge as individuals and small groups, stand up for voiceless animals and plants. Be counted and think deeply about co-creating the transition leading to the next era. What will it be? How will we get there? How will we transcend the intractable problem of anxiety over meaninglessness and our own finitude?

Dreams inspire our most creative thoughts. We must repossess our deepest connections to qualitative time (Kairos), our physical world, and to all other lifeforms. Something magical, ineffable, is waiting to be rediscovered in Nature. Beyond mindless consumption and conformity, this something is in us, not out there.

Lesson #1: Nature’s laws have been trying to teach us that man is hardly the entirety of all infinite space and time. Man is not God and thus not the Creator of himself or of his Natural Environment (Source).

We must find the courage to gather and reassemble the wonderful analogical moments (fragments) that spark individual passion for the poetic and artistic and restore our individual life, our sensory life.

Think on it, dream on it, accept the invitation to co-create the future where we all can ultimately reconnect as an integral part of being-itself. Dream Big!

A donation to the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and to Counterpunch­ helps a lot. Small individual contributions keep these exemplary groups working on behalf of some of the most threatened sentient beings who will never have a vote, a piggy bank, or a voice in today’s mad, mad world.

Steve Kelly is a an artist and environmental activist. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.  

 

Iran war closes Hormuz, Bab al-Mandeb simultaneously for first time ever

Oil holds above $100 a barrel as Washington's air campaign against Tehran grinds through a 13th night, Houthi attacks squeeze the last open route out of the Gulf, and the fallout spreads to piracy, insurance and Sudan's food supply. / bne IntelliNewsFacebook

TwitterLinkedInTelegramFlipboardFeedly

By Ben Aris in Berlin Ben Aris in Berlin July 24, 2026

For the first time since records began, both of the Middle East's great oil chokepoints are shut at once. The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed since February 28, when the US and Israel opened their war on Iran; the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, at the southern end of the Red Sea, has been under an Iran-backed Houthi blockade since July 20-21, after the militia fired on two Saudi-flagged tankers.

Together the two straits normally carry around a quarter of the world's seaborne oil and gas, according to a Red Sea Monitor analysis citing Kpler and others. As IntelliNews reported, the closing of two of the world’s major maritime transport chokepoints is policy makers’ worst nightmare.

It matters because there is no historical precedent for both chokepoints failing together: Saudi Arabia built its entire Hormuz workaround around shipping oil out via the Red Sea, and that workaround now runs straight through the new embargo.

It has created a multi-front headache: Washington has restarted its bombing campaign against Iran; a scramble by Saudi Arabia to reroute oil the long way around via Suez and Africa; a new and untested US legal manoeuvre to make Iran pay for the damage; and knock-on effects as far afield as Somali piracy and Sudan's food security.

The UN's International Maritime Organization has, for what it is worth, called for calm. “I unequivocally condemn the latest reported attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea area,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement on July 24. “These attacks are indefensible... De-escalation is the only solution.” Nobody directly involved shows much sign of listening.

US strikes grind on

The US military struck Iranian targets across the south, southeast and west of the country on July 22-23, US Central Command said, describing it as the 12th consecutive night of strikes — hitting maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites and air-defence assets as the 60 day Memorandum of Understanding ceasefire definitely collapses. The next day Iranian officials confirmed strikes in Khuzestan, Hormozgan, Bushehr, Sistan-Baluchistan, Kermanshah and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari provinces; a strike on the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq killed two people, including an Artesh communications officer, according to a provincial deputy governor.

Iran's own parliament has tabled a "Hormuz security bill", and a senior Iranian official has already called the closure the central economic cost of the war. Only a single tanker crossed Hormuz on July 24, the lowest daily total since May 7, according to Kpler ship-tracking data cited by Iran International.

Two chokepoints, closed at once

According to the Red Sea Monitor analysis, Saudi Arabia had already rerouted around 70% of its oil exports through its Red Sea terminal at Yanbu to work around the Hormuz closure — and that bypass now runs directly through the new Houthi embargo. The same analysis puts 25% of world oil and gas supply at risk if both chokepoints stay closed, Saudi loadings already down 36% before the embargo even hit, and Bab al-Mandeb's Saudi-linked flow falling from a peak of 9.5mn barrels a day to 6.1mn. A weekly transit chart tracking Bab al-Mandeb traffic, compiled by analyst Anas Alhajji, shows volumes that had been climbing through 2026 dropping sharply in the most recent week.

Iran itself gave warning of wider export-route disruption back in mid-July, and shipping giant Maersk had just sent its first cargo back through the Suez Canal since the war began — a tentative normalisation that the new Houthi embargo now complicates. Yanbu itself was flagged as a potential target amid rising Houthi tensions weeks ago, a warning that reads differently now that the port sits at the centre of Saudi Arabia's only remaining workaround.

The knock-on effect reaches well beyond oil. Port Sudan, 180 miles north of the new embargo line, imports 80% of Sudan's wheat and serves as the sole functioning port for 33.7mn people, per the Red Sea Monitor breakdown — with no Atlantic access, no pipeline alternative and no strategic food reserve to fall back on. Re-routing around the Cape of Good Hope adds more than 30 days and 25%-plus in cost, up to $2.5mn per tanker, which the analysis argues is unaffordable for humanitarian supply chains specifically.

Saudi Arabia's costly detour

With both its main export routes disrupted, Saudi Arabia is falling back on the norther escape hatch of the Suez Canal — a route it has not used as a primary export outlet for decades.

The arithmetic is brutal: sailing from Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Yanbu to Taiwan takes 19 days via Bab al-Mandeb but 48 days via Suez, the Mediterranean and the Cape of Good Hope, according to Kpler shipping data, roughly doubling fuel costs to around $2.87mn from $1.26mn per voyage before Suez Canal fees — an extra $1mn — are even added. Big tankers will reportedly have to sail through Suez partly empty and top up in the Mediterranean, given the canal's size restrictions.

One workaround: partially unloading tankers into the Sumed pipeline, which runs 320 km (200 miles) from the Ain Sukhna terminal on the Red Sea to Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean and can carry up to 2.5mn barrels a day, against Saudi Arabia's total exports of around 7mn b/d. State producer Aramco is already offering extra cargoes from Sidi Kerir to bypass Bab al-Mandeb entirely, according to a widely circulated trader note, in what one analyst called Riyadh "hedging the exact route in question" rather than treating the risk as theoretical.

Washington's to make Tehran pay for the damage

President Donald Trump said on July 23 that damage to ships and cargo hit in the conflict will be “paid for out of Iranian money” the US holds and controls, writing on Truth Social that "any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo, or anything related thereto, will be paid for by Iranian Money that the United States has in its possession, and controls." Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called it "an incendiary precedent," warning that "once governments normalise confiscation, no one's assets are safe."

The legal mechanism has a precedent: in 2016 the US Supreme Court ruled in Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran (also known as Bank Markazi v. Peterson) that almost $2bn in Iranian central bank bonds held in New York had to be handed to American families of the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing and other Iran-linked attacks — a ruling that took a law written for that single case plus a Supreme Court decision to enforce. Iran subsequently took the seizure to the International Court of Justice, which found in 2023 that the US had violated a bilateral treaty, though the ICJ ruling has not reversed the transfer. Whether — and how — the Trump administration intends to apply a similar mechanism to today's shipping damages remains legally untested and, per reporting so far, unclear even in its basic scope.

Ripple effects: piracy revives, Somalia in the mix

A merchant tanker, the Tanzanian-flagged MT Asana, hijacked in Yemeni waters in the Gulf of Aden last week, is now reportedly being held by Somali pirates rather than its original Houthi-linked hijackers, Reuters reported on July 23, citing residents of Somalia's Puntland region. It fits a broader resurgence of Gulf of Aden piracy since a lull that ran roughly 2018-2023 — a breakdown of the world's piracy hotspots earlier this year traced the rebound directly to the security vacuum left by Houthi attacks — the same dynamic now playing out again as naval and commercial attention is consumed by the wider war.

 

Pirates Seize Small Product Tanker off Yemen

The Gulf of Aden has become a hotbed of pirate activities this year (UKMTO)

Published Jul 17, 2026 12:38 PM by The Maritime Executive

A small chemical tanker sailing near Yemen issued a distress call on Friday morning, July 17, and it appears to have been boarded by up to seven armed pirates. The authorities in Somalia and elsewhere are investigating the incident as the vessel appears to be heading toward the Somali coast.

Reports are identifying the tanker as the Asana, apparently managed from South Korea and registered for a company in the Marshall Islands. The ship’s details are unclear, with Equasis listing its flag as “unknown,” while most sources show the vessel registered in Tanzania.

Built in 1992, the ship is reported to be 10,960 dwt. It is 127 meters (417 feet) and has been operating as the Asana for the past three years since 2023.

The boarding took place approximately 63 nautical miles south of Al Mukalla, Yemen. The area has emerged in recent weeks as a hotbed for piracy activity, with several vessels reporting that they had been approached. Pirates boarded a bulker named Golden Arsenal earlier in the month. The crew was able to secure themselves in a citadel, and the Indian Navy responded. The pirates flew the ship when they were unable to breach the citadel to reach the crew.

Earlier reports said the Asana was drifting. MSCIO, however, is reporting the vessel appears to be back underway. Ambrey is saying that a Korean warship was attempting to reach the vessel.

This latest incident comes as reports said that talks for the release of the seafarers from three ships held off Somalia since April are now in an “advanced stage.” A total of 44 seafarers are being held aboard three vessels, Honour 25, Eureka, and Sward, with the IMO, Egyptian officials, and others expressing concern for the safety of the crew from the vessels. Egypt had instructed its representatives to intensify efforts to release its nationals who were kidnapped from the vessels.

The increase in oil and product prices as a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has made these vessels more valuable targets for pirates. Two of the ships currently being held are product tankers, with unconfirmed reports in the media that the pirates increased their financial demands for the release of the crews.

 

Strong Decrease in Incidents of Piracy and Armed Robbery of Ships in Asia

Most incidents of armed robbery or piracy are happening in the eastbound lane of the Singapore Strait (file photo)

Published Jul 14, 2026 2:36 PM by The Maritime Executive

The first six months of 2026 saw an overall strong decline in the number of reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery against shipping in Asia, reports the ReCAAP Information Sharing Center. Across Asia, the number of incidents recorded between January and June was the lowest for this period since the first half of 2019, and while ReCAAP remains concerned specifically about the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS), it also reports a strong decline year-over-year in incidents in the traditional “hot spot” for these crimes.

The total number of incidents was down 64 percent this year. There were 35 reports this year versus 96 in the first half of 2025. The Straits of Malacca and Singapore remained the primary area for piracy and armed crime, followed by an increase in incidents in the Philippines. 

“The sharp decrease in incidents in the SOMS in the first half of 2026 can be attributed to the combination of effective preventive measures by the shipping industry and firm operational response by the law enforcement agencies of the littoral states,” said ReCAAP ISC Executive Director Vijay Chafekar. “The residual petty theft cases are localized in the eastbound lane of the Phillip Channel in the Singapore Strait. These incidents can be contained by implementing visible countermeasures onboard ships.”

The Straits had seen a strong increase in the number of incidents and also an increase in the number of perpetrators who were armed with guns or knives. The authorities reported several arrests mid-year in 2025, and it continues to show progress. Overall, the number of incidents declined 74 percent from 80 in the first half of 2025 to 21 this year in the SOMS region.

The concern, however, is that the majority of incidents across Asia, 20 out of a total of 35, were in the eastbound lane of the Singapore Strait. The incidents are mostly targeting bulkers (62 percent) or barges (29 percent), with engine spare parts being stolen in about a third of the cases. Scrap metal is being stolen from the barges. Most of the incidents happened at night, and while overall 44 percent of the incidents in Asia involved perpetrators carrying knives or guns, in only 10 percent of the incidents were crewmembers threatened or injured in SOMS.

ReCAAP highlights that most of the incidents are opportunistic theft and non-confrontational. Most often, they are aboard ships underway (21 incidents), and the pirates have adopted a “hit-and-run” approach, says ReCAAP, grabbing spares or stores that are unattended and leaving the vessel. Most often, when they are detected on a ship, they flee.

The Philippine Coast Guard responded to an increase in incidents in its ports and anchorage. There were 10 incidents reported this year in the Philippines versus none in 2025. The Coast Guard arrested several perpetrators between January and April.

Elsewhere in Asia, including Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Malaysia, ReCAAP reports individual incidents. Across Asia, it says there was a decrease in the severity of the incidents and no reports of the most severe cases, which involve assaults on the crew or kidnapping. 

ReCAAP continues to emphasize the importance of vigilance and precautions for vessels, along with the reporting of incidents. It also continues to call on the regional authorities to respond quickly to keep the number of incidents in check. 

 

IMO Calls for Release of Three Ships Hijacked by Somali Pirates

Honour 25 in pirate custody (EUNAVFOR)

Published Jul 6, 2026 3:39 PM by The Maritime Executive

The IMO is growing increasingly concerned over the fate of dozens of seafarers who are currently being held for ransom by Somali pirates - including crewmembers who are suffering significant health setbacks. 

The IMO’s regional piracy initiative - formally known as the Djibouti Code of Conduct/Jeddah Amendment (DCoC/JA) - has received word from the master of the hijacked tanker Honour 25 (IMO 9109735), which was boarded and seized on April 24. All of the 17 crewmembers on board are still alive, the master reports, but conditions are difficult. Five (including the master) have health problems, and the crew are surviving on rice. They are out of safe drinking water, posing further risks to their health. Worse still, the local pirate rivalries on the Somali coast pose a new and unexpected risk to their well-being: a competing pirate action group attempted to approach the already-captured vessel, prompting the pirates aboard Honour 25 to open fire to drive them off - and potentially putting the crew at risk of violence. 

"Behind every piracy incident are innocent seafarers enduring fear, deprivation, uncertainty and prolonged psychological trauma," the committee wrote in a statement. 

The crew of the Honour 25 includes Indonesian, Pakistani, Indian and Burmese nationals, and the Indonesian government has negotiated directly with the Somali hijackers in an attempt to secure the ship's release. Indonesian foreign minister Sugiono (his full name) confirmed that talks with the pirate action group were ongoing back in May - without successful results. 

The crewmembers of two additional vessels - Sward (IMO 9174244) and MV Eureka (IMO 1022823) - are still being held as well, and pirate-like actions off the southern coast of Yemen suggest that would-be hijackers are still actively operating in the area, hoping to capture even more ships and seafarers. The committee called for all parties with influence over the outcome - including the owners, insurers, flags and the coastal state - to take action to bring the hijackings to a swift conclusion. 

The resurgence of piracy in the region could have many reasons, analysts suggest. Anti-piracy patrol efforts were redirected to cover the Red Sea during the Houthi maritime security crisis, leaving a gap in the Gulf of Aden that opportunistic actors could exploit. The fuel aboard product tankers like Honour 25 is (or was) more valuable during the surge in pricing caused by the U.S.-Iran conflict, making this vessel class in particular an attractive target. 

 

Conditions Deteriorating for Hijacked Seafarers as Somalia Piracy Continues

Indian Navy released the crew of one bulker which had secured itself in a citadel (Indian Navy)

Published Jul 2, 2026 2:03 PM by The Maritime Executive

The IMO released a statement highlighting the deteriorating conditions for three crews stuck in Somalia after their vessels were seized by pirates while calling for more action from the international community. It came as the Indian Navy responded to a new distress call and was able to release a crew sheltering from pirates in their vessel’s citadel.

The current chair of the Djibouti Code of Conduct/Jeddah Amendment, a regional initiative implemented by the International Maritime Organization, reports deteriorating humanitarian conditions for the crew of the MT Honour 25, which was seized on April 24, as well as for the crews of the Sward and Eureka, which were also seized around the same time.

According to the statement released by the IMO, the captain of the Honour 25 says the crew is caught between two factions in Somalia. The rival group recently tried to storm the ship, and there was an exchange of gunfire between the two groups.

Five of the 17 crewmembers, including the captain, of the Honour 25 are now suffering from health problems. The captain reports that the food supplies have been reduced to rice, and the available water is unsafe for drinking. 

As a result, the Chair of the IMO initiative, Metse Ralephenya of South Africa, is calling for “urgent, coordinated and decisive international intervention to secure the immediate, safe, and unconditional release of the crews.”

His statement came as Egypt’s Foreign Ministry reported it was increasing its diplomatic efforts to gain the release of its nationals aboard the Eureka. The report said the pirates, however, had changed their demands.

Another crew was able to avoid abduction, however, as the Indian Navy’s frigate Trikand reached the bulker Golden Arsenal, which had been boarded on Wednesday, July 1. The crew of 21 had been able to retreat to the citadel aboard the 28,221-dwt bulker, which was sailing between Yemen and Somalia.

The bulker registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines had sailed from Aden, Yemen, and was reporting that it was heading to Tuticorin, India. It was approximately 300 nautical miles east-northeast of Djibouti when it was overtaken by a skiff with four heavily armed individuals. Reports yesterday said the pirates had RPGs.

The pirates were able to board the vessel and damage the bridge and some of the surrounding compartments, but were unable to beach the citadel. The crew had issued a distress call and remained sheltered. The pirates appeared to have abandoned the ship, but the crew saw that the boarding ladders were still in place and decided to remain in the citadel until assistance could reach them.

Sailors from the Indian Navy boarded the Golden Arsenal and searched the vessel, confirming the pirates had fled. They released the crew from the citadel and assisted in restoring the vessel so that it could continue its voyage.

The Indian Navy also undertook aerial surveillance in the area. This came after reports that the pirate group had pursued another vessel on Monday, and the authorities warned the group was likely still looking for targets.

 

Pirates Board and Damage Vessel and Then Pursue Second Ship in Gulf of Aden

Two vessels were attacked in the same area between Yemen and Somalia (UKMTO)

Published Jul 1, 2026 12:52 PM by The Maritime Executive

A pirate action group was active in the Gulf of Aden on July 1, as the level of activity continues at an increased level in the area. UK Maritime Trade Operations and MSCIO are reporting the pirates were able to board one vessel but abandoned it when the crew locked into the citadel, but a short time later, the same group was pursuing a second vessel.

The first incident took place in a position approximately 76 nautical miles south of Balhaf, Yemen, and 110 nautical miles northeast of Bosaso, Somalia. An unnamed bulker reported it was being approached by a small boat with four people aboard. They were heavily armed, including the RPGs.

Being overtaken, the crew of the bulker stopped the vessel and proceeded to enter the citadel to issue a distress call. They were awaiting assistance.

The crew later left the citadel to inspect the ship, reporting the pirates had fled. While they could not find any of the pirates, they saw that the boarding ladders were still on the hull of their ship. As a precaution, they re-entered the citadel until assistance arrived. 

The reports indicated that four pirates had boarded the ship. The crew observed damage to the bridge and several compartments around the bridge.

Later, four people, also heavily armed, were observed in pursuit of a second merchant ship. MSCIO said it was likely the same group based on the timing and location. 

The second vessel reported that it was able to evade the pirates. The skiff discontinued the pursuit. The authorities, however, are warning that the group appears to be searching for additional targets.

Three other ships continue to be held by pirate groups in Somalia since late April and early May. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry has ordered an increased effort in an attempt to free Egyptian sailors being held on one of the vessels.

Egypt Intensifies Efforts to Free Crew of Hijacked Tanker

EU Navy forces have been monitoring the three hijacked vessels (EUNAVFOR Atalanta)

Published Jun 30, 2026 2:22 PM by The Maritime Executive

Egypt is intensifying efforts to free the crew of a tanker that has been held by pirates off Somalia since early May. The Foreign Ministry, in a new statement, emphasized the efforts while also working to support the families of the Egyptian sailors aboard the tanker.

The efforts come after the head of Egypt’s Maritime Officers Syndicate said last week talks had collapsed, according to The National news outlet in Egypt. It reports that the liaison to the International Transport Workers’ Federation said that the pirates demanded a higher ransom. He told the outlet that the issue was back to “square one.”

The incident started on May 2 while the tanker Eureka (3,353 dwt) was at anchorage off Qana Port, Shabwa, Yemen. Armed individuals reportedly boarded the vessel and took control. Later reports stated the vessel was underway toward Somalia, and at last report, it is anchored off the coast in the Puntland region.

The vessel, which is owned by interests in Yemen, was built in 2006 and registered in Togo. It has a crew of 22 aboard, including eight Egyptians.

The ministry reports it is coordinating efforts to ensure the welfare of the crewmembers. The embassy in Mogadishu made arrangements to enable the crew to communicate with their families.

The foreign minister has directed that they maintain daily monitoring while they work toward the release of the crew. At the same time, it has been communicating with the shipowner in Yemen and enlisted the aid of the Egyptian embassy in Riyadh, which is accredited in Yemen, to coordinate with the Yemeni authorities.

The hijacking of the Eureka was one of three incidents reported over a matter of days in late April and early May. EUNAVFOR Atalanta reports it is monitoring the situation and, as of last week, listed all three hijackings as ongoing.

Pirate activity increased dramatically this spring off the coast of Somalia and in the waters toward Yemen. Several ships reported being approached and getting into gun battles with the pirates, while others were able to outrun and maneuver to avoid boarding attempts.