The attack on a tanker without cargo in the Arabian Sea killed two of the crew, announced Friday, July 30, its owner Zodiac Maritime, held by an Israeli billionaire. Security experts have raised the hypothesis of an Iranian attack. The assault took place in a strategic area where Israeli ships have already been targeted.
“ With great sadness we learned that the incident on board the M / T Mercer Street resulted in the death of two crew members: a Romanian national and a British national “, announced, on Twitter, Zodiac Maritime, an international company headquartered in London. “ We can now confirm that the M / T Mercer Street navigates under the control of his crew to a place of safety, with a US naval escort “, the firm later added. The latter belongs to Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer, ranked 197e richest person by Forbes, with an estimated fortune of $ 11.3 billion.
According to the UKMTO maritime operations site, a counter-piracy agency under the British Navy, the attack was reported at 8 p.m. KST on Thursday while it was underway at around 152 nautical miles ( 280 kilometers) from the coast of Oman. “ At the time of the incident, the ship was in the northern Indian Ocean “ and was sailing without cargo from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to Fujairah, a coastal city in the United Arab Emirates, says the owner, who operates the Japanese vessel.
“Significant escalation”
The British national who died in the attack was working for security firm Ambrey, which confirmed, through its spokesperson, the death “Tragic” of his employee in a “Security incident”. A representative of the British Ministry of Defense also said that its headquarters in the region “Are currently carrying out investigations”.
The Arabian Sea is located between Iran and Oman, at the exit of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which passes a large part of the world’s oil and where a coalition led by the United States operates. Shipping in the area was the target of frequent piracy a decade ago, but incidents have declined markedly in recent years, following increased patrols by maritime forces from several countries. Analysts have linked the attack with earlier incidents. Two ships operated by the Israeli company Ray Shipping were attacked earlier this year.
Meir Javedanfar, a security expert at Israeli University IDC Herzliya, said Iran was ” very probably “ behind this attack. According to him, the Iranians “Feel at a disadvantage when it comes to responding to attacks in Iran associated with Israel”, such as the April 11 explosion at the Natanz nuclear complex, blamed by Tehran on the Hebrew state.
“The attack on M / T Mercer Street is now considered the fifth attack on a ship connected to Israel ”, noted in a statement the analysts of Dryad Global, a company specializing in maritime security based in London, citing new “Reprisals in the shadow war between the two powers” .
The deaths of two crew members, however, represent “A significant escalation of events”, ruled Dryad Global, informing its customers that the risk to commercial vessels associated with Israel and Iran in the Gulf Waterway is now “Increased”.
