Three days after the attack, diplomatic tensions are heightened.
Israel claims this Sunday it has "evidence" of Iran's involvement in a deadly attack on an oil tanker run by an Israeli billionaire in the Arabian Sea and threatened the country with reprisals, after Tehran denied any connection to this. case.
On Thursday, the oil tanker Mercer Street, owned by businessman and billionaire Eyal Ofer, was the target of a drone attack in the Arabian Sea, according to the US military, several of which are present in the region.
The attack, which has not been claimed, left two dead, a Briton employed by the security company Ambrey, and a Romanian crew member, according to the shipowner Zodiac Maritime, an international company based in London and owned by at Eyal Ofer. Israel immediately pointed the finger at Iran, its Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Friday accusing the Islamic Republic of being "an exporter of terrorism, destruction and instability which hurts everyone". The head of Israeli diplomacy, who spoke by telephone overnight Saturday to Sunday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, called for action against Iran at the UN.
This Sunday, Iran, Israel's great rival, denied any involvement in this affair: "The Zionist regime (Israel, Editor's note) must stop (launching) such unfounded accusations", declares the spokesperson for its diplomacy Saïd Khatibzadeh at a press conference in Tehran. And to add: "Iran will not hesitate for a moment to defend its interests and its national security".
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who took over from Benjamin Netanyahu last month, responded curtly and directly to the Iranian denial.
“I have just heard that Iran is cowardly trying to escape its responsibility in this affair, which it denies (any involvement, note).
So I can say with absolute certainty that Iran carried out this attack on the ship (…) There is evidence of that, ”he said during a weekly meeting of his government.
“We expect the international community to make it clear to the Iranian regime that it made a serious mistake.
Either way, we know how to send a message to Iran in our own way, ”added Naftali Bennett, without further clarification.
"Shadow war"
The company Dryad Global, specializing in maritime security, spoke of new "reprisals in the shadow war between the two powers", with reference to Iran and Israel.
The Mercer Street vessel was sailing cargo-free from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Fujairah (United Arab Emirates) when it was targeted, according to Zodiac Maritime, which operates the Japanese Liberian-flagged vessel, and appears to have witnessed the latest protest. of the enmity between Iran and Israel.
For years, Israel and Iran have clashed directly or indirectly in Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
But in recent months, this rivalry has spilled over into the sea with the emergence of a mysterious series of sabotages and attacks.
On March 10, a cargo ship of the Iranian state-owned shipping company IRISL, Iran Shahr-e-Kord, was hit in the hull by an explosive device in the Mediterranean. Tehran then affirmed that "everything suggests that the occupation regime of Jerusalem (Israel in the official Iranian phraseology, Editor's note) is behind this operation". In April, Iran announced that an Iranian "commercial vessel", the Saviz, had been damaged in the Red Sea by an explosion of undetermined origin. The New York Times then reported that the Saviz had been targeted by an Israeli "retaliatory" attack after "Iran's previous strikes against Israeli ships."
For analysts, this showdown at sea is part of a larger rivalry over the Iranian nuclear issue, with Tehran trying to increase the pressure in order to obtain a new agreement favorable to it while the Hebrew state seeks to prevent it. The Iranian authorities have moreover accused Israel on several occasions of having sabotaged some of its uranium enrichment facilities, and even of having assassinated scientists who would be linked to the development of this program.
