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Shadow maritime war between Israel and Iran

2021-03-14T11:49:26.407Z


Tehran accuses its rival of having damaged one of its freighters in a "terrorist attack". According to the Wall Street Journal, a dozen Iranian ships have been targeted by the Jewish state in the past two years.


Correspondent in Jerusalem

Israel and Iran are engaged in an increasingly less discreet naval battle in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Gulf.

Tehran this weekend accused its rival of having damaged in a "

terrorist attack

" one of its cargo ships,

Iran Shahr-e-Kord

, causing a fire on board.

The Wall Street Journal, for its part, revealed based on testimonies from anonymous US officials that at least a dozen Iranian ships have been targeted by Israel in the past two years.

Maritime warfare is clandestine.

In an episode made public last month, suspected Israeli agents allegedly laid a charge against an Iranian cargo ship while it anchored near Lebanon.

And earlier this month, a building owned by wealthy Israeli businessman Rami Ongar, a relative of Mossad leader Yossi Cohen, was punctured in the Gulf of Oman by an explosion.

He was allegedly hit by a suction cup mine.

A process used by combat swimmers on both sides.

These devices known as limpet are attached incognito to the hull in a port and later explode at sea, piercing the sides of ships.

Read also: Yossi Cohen, the spy who reconciles Israel with its neighbors

Tehran claims that its boat, victim of an act of "

piracy

", was heading for Europe.

The

Iran Shahr-e Kord

belongs to IRISL, a company placed on the blacklist Washington which accuses him of carrying materials related to the nuclear program and the Iranian ballistic missiles.

Disrupt oil deliveries

According to the

WSJ

, the ships in Israel's sights are often tankers smuggling their goods and sometimes weapons into Syria.

The tankers are partially struck to limit the risk of marine pollution.

According to Israeli military intelligence specialists, the attacks are aimed at disrupting Syria's oil supply and blocking Iran's plan to use the proceeds of the deal to fund Hezbollah.

Tehran continues this trade by shipping millions of barrels despite US sanctions against Iran and the international embargo against Syria.

The crude shipments are controlled by officials of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Oil tankers can carry hundreds of millions of dollars in black gold.

Shippers often declare false destinations, use old rusty tankers to avoid being noticed, and would not hesitate to transfer oil from ship to ship on the high seas to muddy the waters.

The Jewish state refuses to comment on these cases as it acknowledges its numerous airstrikes in Syria against Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

The country has an interest in having safe shipping routes: almost all of the goods it imports arrive by sea.

The

Wall Street Journal

revelations

come against a backdrop of Israeli-Iranian escalation as the Biden administration seeks its posture in the balance of power with Iran.

It wants to return to the 2015 international Iran nuclear agreement, but each party demands concessions.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-03-14

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