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Oil tanker »Mercer Street«, here near Cape Town (archive picture)
Photo: Johan Victor / AP
After a fatal attack on a ship in the north of the Indian Ocean, Israel sharply attacked its adversary Iran.
The ship is managed by the British company Zodiac Maritime.
The Zodiac Group is chaired by Israeli businessman Ejal Ofer.
"Iran is not just an Israeli problem, but an exporter of terror, destruction and instability that harm us all," wrote Foreign Minister Jair Lapid on Saturday night on Twitter.
According to Zodiac Maritime, two members of the crew were killed in the attack on Thursday, one from the UK and one from Romania.
The New York Times reported, citing Israeli sources, that it looks like the attack was carried out by several unmanned Iranian drones.
Lapid wrote that he had warned Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab of the need to react sharply to the attack.
Zodiac Maritime announced on Friday that there was a suspicion of an incident involving pirates on board the tanker "M / T Mercer Street".
The ship is Japanese owned and managed by the UK-based company.
It was on the way from Tanzania to the Emirate of Fujairah and had no cargo on board.
In the past few months, ships with connections to Israelis have been attacked repeatedly in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman.
At the beginning of July, a cargo ship was attacked that, according to media reports, was previously owned by Zodiac Maritime.
According to the Israeli daily »Haaretz«, Israel suspected at the time that Iran was behind the attack.
Similar incidents occurred in February and April, and Israel accused Iran of these.
An Iranian freighter was also slightly damaged in an explosion in the Red Sea in April.
According to reports in the New York Times, the attack originated in Israel.
Iran is enemies with Israel.
Israel, on the other hand, has meanwhile established diplomatic relations with the two Gulf countries, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
kry / dpa