Iranian Revolutionary Guards seized a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. The ship was flying the Portuguese flag but belonging to the Zodiac company, owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.
The event occurred hours before Iran's drone and missile attack on Israel. The Israeli army reacted: Iran “will suffer the consequences of its choice to further aggravate the situation,” declared IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari. “The regime of Ayatollah Khamenei is a criminal regime that supports the crimes of Hamas and is now carrying out a piracy operation in violation of international law,’ declared Israel Katz, the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs. This boarding was denounced as “an act of piracy” by the United States, which called on “Iran to immediately release this ship flying the Portugal flag and under British ownership, and its crew, made up of Indians, Filipinos, Pakistanis, Russians and Estonians’ The ship's crew consisted of 25 members including Indians and Russians.