Middle East
Iran seizes container ship linked to Israel
The Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman in a satellite image provided by NASA. photo
© -/The Visible Earth/NASA/dpa
Military tensions have been growing in the Middle East for days. Iran’s navy has now seized a container ship. Is Iran’s retaliation against Israel now beginning?
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Navy has seized a container ship. The ship has a connection to Israel and is located in the Persian Gulf region, reported on Saturday the Tasnim news agency, which is considered the mouthpiece of the Revolutionary Guards. In a photo distributed by the agency, a commando soldier can be seen rappelling from a military helicopter onto the deck of the ship. Further information was initially not known.
The British Navy agency UKMTO had previously reported on the case and located it in the Gulf of Oman, about 50 nautical miles northeast of the port city of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Iran’s navy has seized oil tankers and container ships in the waters in the past.
According to reports it was the “MSC Aries”. According to information from the Israeli army broadcaster, the container ship sails under the Portuguese flag and probably has, among other things, Israeli owners, as the broadcaster wrote on X. According to the ship tracking service Vessel Finder, the ship, which was 366 meters long, was traveling from the United Arab Emirates to India. The last position was received on Friday afternoon when the container giant was on its way to Dubai.
Tensions in the region are higher than they have been in years
Military tensions in the region are at their highest in years. After the suspected Israeli airstrike on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria, in which two brigadier generals were killed, the government in Tehran has threatened its arch-enemy Israel with retaliation. Observers see the enemy countries on the verge of a military escalation.
The Strait of Hormuz, a 55-kilometer-wide strait between Iran and Oman, is considered one of the most important shipping routes for global oil exports. The US regularly accuses the Iranian navy of obstructing civilian shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the adjacent Gulf of Oman.
Since the Gaza war broke out at the beginning of October, conflicts in the region have increased significantly, including on the sea routes. In particular, Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi rebels have regularly attacked tankers heading to Israel. Large shipping companies are increasingly avoiding the Red Sea route, the shortest sea route between Asia and Europe.