While the whole world looks to the sky in anxious anticipation of the expected Iranian retaliation against Israel for the strike on its Damascus embassy, trouble started in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship, days after Tehran said it could close the crucial shipping route.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that an IRGC helicopter boarded the Portuguese flagged MSC Aries and taken into Iranian waters.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Tehran of piracy and called on the West to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization.
Reuters reported:
“MSC, which operates the Aries, confirmed Iran had seized the ship and said it was working “with the relevant authorities” for its safe return and the wellbeing of its 25 crew.
MSC leases the Aries from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, Zodiac said in a statement, adding that MSC is responsible for all the vessel’s activities. Zodiac is partly owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.
Video on Iranian news channels purporting to show the seizure included a figure abseiling from a helicopter on to a ship. Reuters was able to verify that the ship in the video was the MSC Aries but not the date it was recorded.”
The incident is yet another unintended consequence of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel and its ally the United States have clashed repeatedly with Iranian proxy groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
“Iran has threatened to retaliate for suspected Israeli airstrikes on its consulate in Syria’s capital Damascus on April 1 that killed seven Revolutionary Guards officers including two senior commanders.
On Tuesday the naval head of the Revolutionary Guards, Alireza Tangsiri, said it could close the Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, if deemed necessary.”
The Western-led Joint Maritime Information Center said vessels navigating the Strait of Hormuz, should exercise caution and ‘not loiter’.
Associated Press reported:
“Iran’s state-run IRNA said a special forces unit of the Guard’s navy carried out the attack on the vessel, the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime.
[…] A crew member on the ship can be heard saying: “Don’t come out.” He then tells his colleagues to go to the ship’s bridge as more commandos come down on the deck. One commando can be seen kneeling above the others to provide them potential cover fire.
The video corresponded with known details of the MSC Aries. The helicopter used also appeared to be a Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopter, which both the Guard and the Iranian-backed Houthis of Yemen have used in the past to conduct commando raids on ships.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz:
“Iran ‘is a criminal regime that supports Hamas’ crimes and is now conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law’, Katz said.”
Watch the IRGC commandos board the ship to seize it.
— Paul Serran (@paul_serran) April 13, 2024
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