On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the media reports.
A Guards helicopter had boarded and taken into Iranian waters the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries. Earlier, Shipping security agencies had reported a vessel being boarded and seized by regional authorities in the Hormuz Strait between the United Arab Emirates and Iran.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) pinpointed the seizure location 50 nautical miles northeast of Fujairah, a key port city in the UAE bordering the Strait. A British maritime security firm, Ambrey, confirmed a boarding incident at the same location.
‘The vessel was the MSC Aries of Zodiac Maritime, an international shipping company partly owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer’, said Marine tracking sites. Iranian authorities did not immediately issue any public statement on the incident.
‘We are aware of the situation reported by UKMTO and we are monitoring it but would not confirm or deny the name of the vessel when asked if it was the MSC Aries’, said a US defence official.
On Tuesday, the naval head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Alireza Tangsiri said that it could close the Strait of Hormuz if deemed necessary. He said Iran viewed as a threat Israel’s presence in the UAE, with which Israel established diplomatic relations in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords mediated by the United States.
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