On Sunday, the first day of the week in Israel, schoolchildren will stay at home. The Israeli army announced the closure of schools for security reasons after Iran’s threats to respond to the deadly attack carried out in early April against the Iranian consulate in Damascus, blamed on Israel.
Joe Biden cut his weekend short for the same reasons. Unusually, the American president “returns to the White House this afternoon to consult his national security team on events in the Middle East,” his team announced in a message sent to the press on Saturday, without giving further details. .
The freighter of discord
These tensions follow Iran’s threats against Israel. The situation became even more tense on Saturday when Iran seized the container ship MSC Aries near the Strait of Hormuz, one of the sea lanes most used by merchant shipping. However, the Iranian authorities have not indicated whether this operation was linked to their recent threats of reprisals.
The United States on Saturday called on Iran to “immediately” release the ship it seized, accusing it of being “linked” to Israel. “We strongly condemn Iran’s seizure in international waters” of the MSC Aries, “flying the Portuguese flag and under British ownership,” declared National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson. “We call on Iran to immediately release this ship and its crew, made up of Indians, Filipinos, Pakistanis, Russians and Estonians,” she added in a statement.
Responses and threats
Israel said it was ready to retaliate against any attack from Iran, and launched new deadly raids on Gaza and exchanged fire with Lebanese Hezbollah.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also called on the European Union to place on the list of “terrorist organizations” the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, responsible for the seizure of the cargo ship.