Israeli-Owned Oil Tanker Attacked By Drone Off Gulf Of Oman
The US Navy's Fifth Fleet says a commercial vessel has been struck off the Gulf of Oman, while reports indicate the vessel’s owner is an Israeli.
The US Navy's Fifth Fleet says a commercial vessel has been struck off the Gulf of Oman, while reports indicate the vessel’s owner is an Israeli.
The Associated Press cited a defense official as saying that a Liberian-flagged oil tanker was hit and exploded in a drone attack Tuesday night.
Commander Timothy Hawkins said Wednesday the tanker was operated by the Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, a company AP said was ultimately owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer.
The shipping firm says the attack dealt minor damage to the tanker, causing no injuries or spillage.
According to shipping tracking site MarineTraffic, the tanker, Pacific Zircon, was last seen off the coast of Liwa, Oman on Monday morning. It departed from Sohar, Oman Monday afternoon with its destination set as the port of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, suspicion immediately fell on Iran.
Tehran and Israel have been engaged in a yearslong shadow war in the wider Middle East, with some drone attacks targeting Israeli-associated vessels traveling around the region.
Last July, Iran targeted the Mercer Street oil tanker with drones. One drone slammed into the bridge of the ship, killing two members of the crew.
Mercer Street was operated by London-based Zodiac Maritime, part of Israeli Zodiac Group owned by Eyal Ofer.
In the spring of 2021, there were also several incidents involving attacks on ships, including the Helios Ray in February and the Hyperion Ray in April.
Speaking to reporters in Paris, Malley appeared to jettison the logic of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, which restricted Tehran’s atomic program in return for the easing of international sanctions. Eighteen-month talks to revive the agreement, from which former president Trump withdrew the US in 2018, have come to naught.
“Our focus is not an accord that isn’t moving forward, but what is happening in Iran ... this popular movement and the brutal crackdown of the regime against protesters,” Malley said. “It’s the sale of armed drones by Iran to Russia ... and the liberation of our hostages…” At least three American nationals are detained in Iran, with talks for a prisoner swap inconclusive.
Malley reiterated Washington’s view that the talks to revive the 2015 agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), had floundered because of both “Iran’s position,” in making demands the US considers beyond the JCPOA, and “everything that has happened since [September].” Recent protests in Iran followed the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini after detention by Tehran ‘morality police.’
President Joe Biden came to office in 2021 committed to reviving the JCPOA as a non-proliferation agreement and thereby lifting the ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions introduced by Trump. But Biden’s administration has extended sanctions, citing both Tehran’s military links with Russia and its treatment of protestors.
Since 2019, the year after the US left the JCPOA, Iran has in response gradually extended its nuclear program and according to the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has now 3,674kg of enriched uranium. This is far above the 267kg JCPOA limit, and includes 62kg enriched to 60 percent, a short step from the 90 percent considered ‘weapons grade.’
Under the JCPOA Iran enriched only to 3.67 percent. Under the JCPOA it employed only 6,104 first-generation centrifuges whereas it now additionally uses at least 4,000 more advanced centrifuges that were banned under the 2015 agreement.
‘No magic…new formula’
Malley said Monday the US would discuss with its “European allies” what steps to take should Iran continue to expand nuclear activities. “If Iran takes the initiative to cross new thresholds in its nuclear program, then obviously the response will be different and coordinated with our European allies…There is no magic in which we will find a new formula.”
With Benjamin Netanyahu set to return to office and the outgoing Israeli administration suggesting it had thoroughly prepared for a military attack on Iran, both the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia show concern over rising tensions. While Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns Monday met the head of Russian foreign intelligence Sergey Naryshkin in Ankara to discuss ‘risk management,’ there has been speculation that Moscow has decided to supply Iran with Su-35 fighter jets.
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said Monday the Emirates had no interest in “choosing sides” between competing powers. Gargash said that while the UAE wanted “codified and unambivalent commitments” from the US, it hoped to see effort put into easing strains and encouraging economic growth without relying on “just one or two countries.”
Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia are expanding trade with China, while Riyadh has led coordination through Opec+ with Russia over oil production levels. The UAE has stepped back from involvement in violent conflict in Yemen and Libya, and earlier this year restored full diplomatic relations with Iran after a six-year gap. While the UAE in 2020 ‘normalized’ relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia so far has maintained the Arab League position that this requires Israeli recognition of Palestinian statehood.
This ship was transiting from Iran along a route in the Gulf of Oman that has been used to traffic weapons to Yemen's Houthi group, reported Reuters.
Releasing a statement on Tuesday, US Navy's Fifth Fleet said its forces found over 70 tons of ammonium perchlorate on the vessel that is generally used to make rocket and missile fuel, as well as explosives.
“This was a massive amount of explosive material, enough to fuel more than a dozen medium-range ballistic missiles depending on the size,” said Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command, US 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces.
A Saudi-led military coalition battling the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen since 2015 has repeatedly accused Tehran of supplying weapons to the group, but the Islamic Republic denies the accusation.
The Islamic Republic has not commented on the accusation yet.
The Fifth Fleet further noted that four Yemeni crew were onboard the vessel which was also carrying 100 tons of urea fertilizer that is used in agriculture but also for making explosives.
US forces sank the ship on Sunday in the Gulf of Oman as it was a "hazard to navigation for commercial shipping" and its crew were handed over to the Yemen coast guard, it added.
Last December, the Fifth Fleet seized a shipment of rifles and ammunitions from a fishing boat. It announced that the cargo is believed to be sent by the Islamic Republic for the Houthis.
