Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AP) —U.S. Navy explosion experts believe a “drone strike” targeted an oil tanker attacked off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea and killed two people on board. Said the US military on Saturday.
A Thursday night strike on oil tanker Mercer Street launched the first known deadly attack after years of attacks on commercial transport in the region related to tensions over a tattered nuclear deal with Iran. is showing. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israeli authorities have claimed that Tehran has launched a drone strike.
Iran did not admit the attack directly, but Tehran is prepared to take a more rigorous approach to the West as Tehran prepares to inaugurate the hardliner Proteje of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hamenei as president. Strikes occur because they appear to be made.
The U.S. Navy’s Middle East-based Fifth Fleet said in a statement early Saturday that the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher were escorting Mercer Street as they headed for a safe port. rice field.
“U.S. Navy explosives experts are on board to ensure that the crew is at no additional risk and are ready to assist in investigating the attack,” said the Fifth Fleet. .. “The first signs clearly indicate a (drone) style attack.”
A statement from the Fifth Fleet did not explain how the drone was determined to have caused the damage, but explained that explosives experts found “clear visual evidence that an attack had occurred” on Mercer Street. Did. The US Central Command did not immediately answer questions about evidence.
Mercer Street is managed by London-based Zodiac Maritime, which is part of the Zodiac Group of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer. According to the company, the attack killed two crew members, Britain and Romania. It didn’t name them and didn’t explain what happened in the attack. He believes that no other crew members have been harmed.
British maritime security firm Ambrey said the attack on Mercer Street killed one of the team members on board.
According to Zodiac Maritime, the cargo-free Mercer Street was on its way from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates at the time of the attack.
Zodiac Maritime described the owner of Mercer Street as Japanese without a name. Lloyd’s List of the shipping authorities has identified the ultimate owner of the vessel as Ohira Kaiun Co., Ltd., a member of the Tokyo-based NYK Group.
Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media, blamed Tehran for the attack. They did not provide evidence to support their claim.
Israeli Foreign Minister Iran tweeted late Friday that he had not been able to blame Iran directly, but had talked with British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab that the attack “needs to be rigorous.”
“Iran is not only an Israeli problem, but an exporter of terrorism, destruction and instability that affects the whole world,” writes Rapid. “We can never remain silent in the face of Iran’s terrorism, which undermines freedom of navigation.”
Other Israeli-linked vessels have been similarly targeted in recent months Bilateral Shadow War, Israeli authorities blamed the Islamic Republic for assault.
Meanwhile, Israel is suspected of a series of large-scale attacks targeting Iran’s nuclear program. also, Iran recently saw its largest warship sink in a mysterious situation in the nearby Gulf of Oman.
The attack on Thursday took place as tensions over Iran’s tattered nuclear deal increased and negotiations over the restoration of the deal were stalled in Vienna. A series of alleged ship attacks by Iran began a year after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2018.
The attack on Mercer Street also took place the night after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke from Kuwait and warned Iran that it “cannot continue indefinitely” to discuss nuclear deals in Vienna.
This is the second time this month that a ship associated with an offer has been targeted. In early July, a Liberia-flagged vessel, the CSAV Tyndall, once tied to Zodiac Maritime, was hit by an unexplained explosion while in the northern Indian Ocean, according to the US Maritime Bureau.
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