Foreign Minister Lapid accuses the archenemy of being behind the fatal attack on a ship that sails for an Israeli company. This is not the first such incident.
After a fatal attack on a ship in the north of the Indian Ocean, Israel accuses the archenemy Irant. The ship is managed by the British company Zodiac Maritime, and 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 crew members were killed in Thursday’s attack, 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 told Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab of the need to respond sharply to the attack. In addition, he had instructed the diplomatic missions in Washington and London as well as at the United Nations (UN) to turn to the relevant contacts at the UN.
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.
Ships with connections to Israelis have been attacked repeatedly in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman in recent months. 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, when Israel also accused Iran.
An Iranian freighter was also slightly damaged in an explosion in the Red Sea in April. According to reports from New York Times this attack started from 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.