Iran’s Guards seize Israel-linked vessel
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Saturday seized a container ship “related to the Zionist regime (Israel) in the Gulf,” state media reported, as tensions soar in the region.
“A container ship named ‘MCS Aries’ was seized by the Sepah (Guards) Navy Special Forces by carrying out a heliborne operation,” government-run Islamic Republic News Agency said.
The operation, it added, took place “near the Strait of Hormuz,” a waterway vital to world trade, and “this ship has now been directed toward the territorial waters” of Iran.
The Iranian report came after two maritime security agencies said “regional authorities” had seized a vessel off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.
“Vessel reported to have been seized by regional authorities” off the coast of Fujairah, the Royal Navy’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said, without providing further details.
Security firm Ambrey said it “observed still footage of at least three individuals fast-roping from a helicopter onto what appeared to be a container ship.”
Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards “have previously used this method of boarding while seizing vessels in the Strait of Hormuz,” it added.
Vessel tracking websites vesselfinder.com and marinetraffic. com say MSC Aries is a Portugueseflagged container ship. Both sites give their last reported position as in the Gulf.
The seizure comes a day after the United States said it was sending military reinforcements to the region, after Iran vowed retaliation for a deadly strike on its consulate in Syria’s capital Damascus almost two weeks ago.
US President Joe Biden said on Friday he expected Iran to strike archfoe Israel, which Tehran blamed for the consular attack, “sooner rather than later.”
The April 1 strike killed at least seven members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, including two generals.
The surging tensions come against the backdrop of the sixmonth war waged by Israel against Iran-backed Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The conflict has since drawn in regional actors, including Iranbacked groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have carried out dozens of missile and drone attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, and seized an Israel-linked cargo vessel, the Galaxy Leader, last November. Its crew is still being held.
Tehran has supported Hamas, but repeatedly denied direct involvement in the militant group’s deadly October 7 attacks on southern Israel that started the war.
Iran in January seized a ship off the coast of Oman in retaliation for what it described as American “theft” of its oil from the same tanker.
Iran’s navy had boarded the Greek-owned St. Nikolas before releasing the crew later.
Much of the world’s oil, which is shipped by sea, passes through the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran said the latest incident occurred.