Yemen Monitor/News Room
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced on Saturday the seizure of an “Israeli-linked” ship in the Arabian Gulf, according to the official Iranian news agency “IRNA”.
Earlier on Saturday, the British maritime security agencies “UKMTO” and “AMBER” reported the incident 50 nautical miles off the coast of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.
“AMBER” noted that it had seen “still images of at least three individuals disembarking from a helicopter onto what appears to be a cargo ship,” noting that this method had “been used previously by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy,” according to AFP.
The detained ship, the “M.V. MSC Aries”, will be towed to Iranian territorial waters, according to Reuters.
This incident comes amid rising tensions in the region, as the United States has sent military reinforcements in anticipation of a possible Iranian attack in response to an airstrike “attributed to Israel” that destroyed the Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed seven Revolutionary Guards members, including two senior officers.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden said he expects Iran to strike its arch-enemy Israel, which it blames for the Damascus attack, “sooner or later.”
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Iran had no choice but to respond to the deadly attack on its diplomatic mission after the UN Security Council failed to take action.
