CAIRO (Reuters) – An Iranian cargo ship has been attacked in the Red Sea, Al Arabiya TV reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources, and the semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim said the ship was targeted a carpet mine.
Al Arabiya cited sources who said the ship was attacked off the coast of Eritrea and was affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, but did not provide any evidence to support the claim.
Tasnim identified the ship as Saviz Iran. “The ship Iran Saviz has been stationed in the Red Sea in recent years to support Iranian commands sent on commercial ship (anti-piracy) escort missions,” he reported.
Reuters was unable to verify the report independently. Iranian officials could not be contacted immediately for comment.
It was the latest in a series of reports of attacks on Israeli- and Iranian-owned cargo ships since late February in which the two enemies accused each other of responsibility.
Incidents have erupted since U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January with a commitment to rejoin the world powers’ 2015 nuclear deal with Iran – abandoned by his predecessor Donald Trump in an action welcomed by Israel – if Tehran fulfills it again.
Iran and the United States on Tuesday began indirect talks in Vienna that included the other powers on ways to reactivate the deal. Both Iran and the United States called the talks “constructive.”
NETANYAHU QUOTES “IRANIA WARNING”
Israeli officials rejected comments about Tuesday’s attack on the Iranian cargo ship.
Earlier in the day, before news of the attack broke, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in comments to lawmakers from his right-wing Likud party, said no “dangerous” nuclear deal should be returned. add:
“At the same time, we must continue to defend the Iranian belligerence in our region. And this threat is not a theoretical issue. I don’t pronounce it rhetorically. We must act against the fanatical regime in Iran, which is simply threatening to remove us from the land. “
The Biden administration does not anticipate any change in Iran’s policy amid negotiations to restore the nuclear deal, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday.
Since February 25, there have been three other attacks on Iranian- or Israeli-owned shipping.
On March 25, a cargo ship owned by an Israeli company was damaged by a missile in the Arabian Sea in what was suspected to be an Iranian attack, according to a senior Israeli security official. The ship was able to continue its journey, he said.
Two weeks earlier, Iranian state media quoted an Iranian investigator as saying that Israel was very likely to be behind an explosion that caused a small fire on an Iranian container ship in the Mediterranean.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz declined to comment directly at the time, but said Iran regularly sent weapons to its representatives in the region.
On February 26, Netanyahu blamed Iran for an explosion aboard an Israeli-owned vehicle carrier in the Gulf of Oman. A U.S. official said the blast ripped holes in both sides of the hull and an Israeli official said carpet mines were being used. Iran denied responsibility.
Report by Ahmed Tolba and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing in Dubai writing; Edited by Howard Goller and Mark Heinrich