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(The Guardian) Reports of vessel being boarded near Strait of Hormuz
A British maritime organisation warned Saturday that a vessel may have been boarded by an unknown party near the crucial strait of Hormuz, reports the Associated Press (AP).
The warning from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) offered no details about the boarding in the Gulf of Oman off the Emirati port city of Fujairah.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the west, particularly after a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria.
According to the AP, Iran did not immediately acknowledge seizing any vessel, nor was there any report carried by state media about the incident. However, Iran since 2019 has engaged in a series of ship seizures and had attacks on vessels attributed to it amid ongoing tensions with the west over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.
The Gulf of Oman is near the strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil passes. Fujairah, on the United Arab Emirates’ eastern coast, is a main port in the region for ships to take on new oil cargo, pick up supplies or trade out crew.
Iran blamed after ship boarded on strait of Hormuz
A video seen by the Associated Press (AP) shows commandos raiding a ship near the strait of Hormuz by helicopter on Saturday, an attack a Middle East defence official attributed to Iran amid wider tensions between Tehran and the west.
According to the AP, the video showed the attack earlier reported by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). Earlier updates from the UKMTO offered no details about the boarding in the Gulf of Oman off the Emirati port city of Fujairah, except that the vessel had been “reported to have been seized by regional authorities”.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge seizing any vessel, nor was there any report carried by state media about the incident.
The defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity with the AP to discuss intelligence matters, shared the video with the news agency. In it, the commandos are said to have descended on to a stack of containers sitting on the deck of the vessel.
The AP say that a crew member on the ship could be heard saying: “Don’t come out.” He then tells his colleagues to go to the ship’s bridge as more commandos come down on the deck. It adds that, one commando can be seen kneeling above the others to provide them potential cover from fire.
Though the AP could not immediately verify the video, it said that it corresponded to known details of the boarding, and the helicopter involved appeared to be one used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, which has carried out other ship raids in the past.
The AP report that the vessel involved is likely the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime. Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group, it adds. Neither MSC nor Zodiac immediately responded to a request for comment by the AP.
According to the news agency, MSC Aries had been last located off Dubai heading toward the strait of Hormuz on Friday and the ship had turned off its tracking data, which has been common for Israeli-affiliated ships moving through the region.
A British maritime organisation warned Saturday that a vessel may have been boarded by an unknown party near the crucial strait of Hormuz, reports the Associated Press (AP).
The warning from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) offered no details about the boarding in the Gulf of Oman off the Emirati port city of Fujairah.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the west, particularly after a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria.
According to the AP, Iran did not immediately acknowledge seizing any vessel, nor was there any report carried by state media about the incident. However, Iran since 2019 has engaged in a series of ship seizures and had attacks on vessels attributed to it amid ongoing tensions with the west over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.
The Gulf of Oman is near the strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil passes. Fujairah, on the United Arab Emirates’ eastern coast, is a main port in the region for ships to take on new oil cargo, pick up supplies or trade out crew.
Iran blamed after ship boarded on strait of Hormuz
A video seen by the Associated Press (AP) shows commandos raiding a ship near the strait of Hormuz by helicopter on Saturday, an attack a Middle East defence official attributed to Iran amid wider tensions between Tehran and the west.
According to the AP, the video showed the attack earlier reported by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). Earlier updates from the UKMTO offered no details about the boarding in the Gulf of Oman off the Emirati port city of Fujairah, except that the vessel had been “reported to have been seized by regional authorities”.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge seizing any vessel, nor was there any report carried by state media about the incident.
The defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity with the AP to discuss intelligence matters, shared the video with the news agency. In it, the commandos are said to have descended on to a stack of containers sitting on the deck of the vessel.
The AP say that a crew member on the ship could be heard saying: “Don’t come out.” He then tells his colleagues to go to the ship’s bridge as more commandos come down on the deck. It adds that, one commando can be seen kneeling above the others to provide them potential cover from fire.
Though the AP could not immediately verify the video, it said that it corresponded to known details of the boarding, and the helicopter involved appeared to be one used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, which has carried out other ship raids in the past.
The AP report that the vessel involved is likely the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime. Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group, it adds. Neither MSC nor Zodiac immediately responded to a request for comment by the AP.
According to the news agency, MSC Aries had been last located off Dubai heading toward the strait of Hormuz on Friday and the ship had turned off its tracking data, which has been common for Israeli-affiliated ships moving through the region.
