Iran's Revolutionary Guard captured the MSC Aries freighter this Saturday in the Persian Gulf - flying the Portuguese flag, but "associated" with Israel -, amid tensions over the possible Iranian response to the Israeli attack against its consulate in Damascus.
“The Navy of the Revolutionary Guard seized a cargo ship associated with the Zionist regime,” reported the Tasnim agency, linked to the elite military body. This is a move announced by Tehran after its authorities promised to avenge the murder of 13 people, including one of its top military commanders, in an Israeli bombing of a consular building in Syria.
The Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, has confirmed the facts, denouncing that "the regime of Ayatollah (Iran's supreme leader, Ali) Khamenei is a criminal regime that supports the crimes of Hamas and is now carrying out a pirate operation in violation of international law.” Reasons why it has urged the EU to “immediately” declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization with the corresponding sanctions.
At the moment, the Israeli Army has not commented on the assault, from an Iranian Revolutionary Guard helicopter, on the MSC Aries cargo ship, with a Portuguese flag, but according to the Tasnim agency, linked to the company Zodiac Maritime, part of the 'Zodiac Group ', with a fleet of more than 180 ships and headquarters in Monaco and belonging to Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer.
Previously, the United Kingdom reported in a brief statement that the vessel had been “seized by regional authorities,” without specifying whether it was the United Arab Emirates or Iran. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency has asked ships transiting through that area to do so “with caution” and report “any suspicious activity.”
The captured ship would be the MSC Aries, with a Portuguese flag, and according to Tasnim, linked to the Israeli-owned company Zodiac Maritime.
Iranian media such as the SNN agency showed videos of soldiers descending from a helicopter and boarding a ship.
The ship, according to maritime portals, left Khalifa, in the UAE, heading to Nhava Sheva, in India, and its last position received was yesterday in the same place where the collision took place.
It is very common for cargo ships to use the so-called flags of convenience, from countries such as Panama, the Marshall Islands or Liberia, in order to avoid strict regulations.
Iran frequently captures oil tankers and cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, the last time on January 11 when a ship was boarded in the Sea of Oman and taken to Iranian waters.
The incident occurs amid high tensions in the Middle East over a possible attack by Iran against Israel in retaliation for the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1.
Six Syrians and seven members of the Revolutionary Guard were killed in that attack, including the leader of its Quds Forces branch for Syria and Lebanon, Brigadier General Mohamed Reza Zahedi.
Iranian authorities have repeatedly vowed revenge for the attack on the diplomatic headquarters.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, considered yesterday that Iran's eventual attack on Israel will come "sooner rather than later" and US media assured that the Iranian response was imminent.
