The maritime special forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, seized a container ship
“linked”
to Israel in the Gulf on Saturday, the official Irna agency announced.
“A container ship called
MSC Aries
was seized by maritime special forces”
during
“an operation carried out with a helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz,”
Irna said. The official agency specified that this ship was being
“directed towards the territorial waters”
of Iran.
Earlier, two maritime security agencies said a ship had been seized
“by regional authorities”.
One of them, the British security company Ambrey, said it had
“observed still images showing at least three individuals quickly jumping from a helicopter”
on the container ship.
This seizure comes in a context of high tensions since the start of the war in October between Israel and Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip. These tensions rose a notch with the deadly attack carried out at the beginning of April against the Iranian consulate in Damascus, blamed on Israel, and for which Tehran threatened to retaliate.
US President Joe Biden said on Friday he expected Iran to take action “soon”.
“Method of boarding”
The Ambrey security agency stressed that the Revolutionary Guards
"had already used this method of boarding when seizing ships in the Strait of Hormuz",
the only crossing point for exports from several major producers in the Middle East. -East.
According to Irna, the
MSC Aries
“flies the Portuguese flag and is managed by the Zodiac company, which belongs to the Zionist capitalist Eyal Ofer”.
Israel is frequently described as
"the Zionist regime"
in Iran, which does not recognize the country.
In a statement, Zodiac said MSC was
“the manager and commercial operator of the container ship
MSC Aries
.”
“MSC is responsible for all ship activities, including cargo operations and maintenance. Title to the vessel is held by Gortal Shipping Inc as financier and it has been leased to MSC on a long-term basis. Gortal Shipping Inc is affiliated with Zodiac Maritime,”
she added.
Yemeni Houthi rebels, who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, have carried out dozens of attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden against merchant ships since October, disrupting global maritime trade in this strategic area.
These attacks have driven up insurance costs for ships transiting the Red Sea and led many shipping companies to prefer the much longer passage around the southern tip of the African continent.
Israel's main ally, Washington set up a multinational coalition in December to
“protect”
maritime traffic without managing to stop the attacks.