
An Israeli-owned ship was attacked in the Gulf near the United Arab Emirates, Iranian and Lebanese media reported Tuesday.
The alleged attack was against the Hyperion, a vessel affiliated with the Israeli PCC company, according to the Hezbollah news station Al-Mayadeen.
Sources in the Israeli defense establishment confirmed that an Israeli-owned vessel had been attacked and blamed Iran for the attack.
In February, a ship owned by an Israeli firm, the MV HELIOS RAY, was hit by an explosion in the Gulf of Oman. No injuries were reported, but the vessel was damaged in the attack.
The Israeli government blamed Iran for the attack.
Source: Arutz Sheva
The Lebanese Al Mayadeen news outlet, which is affiliated with the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, said the ship came under fire near Fujairah on the coast of the Gulf of Oman.
The Iranian-backed al-Alam TV said the Israeli vessel was the cargo ship Hyperion Ray, which sails under the Bahamas flag but is Israeli-owned.
Channel 12 said the missile strike caused a small amount of damage to the ship, but no injuries. The ship was en route to the UAE from Kuwait, according to the network.
The Emirate of Fujairah is on the UAE’s eastern coast, on the Gulf of Oman, opposite the Persian Gulf and near the Strait of Hormuz.
The reported strike came as Iran threatened to avenge an attack on its Natanz nuclear site that it blamed on Israel.
Tehran and Jerusalem are engaged in a maritime shadow war, with both sides blaming the other for explosions on vessels, marking a new front in the conflict that was previously carried out on land, by air, and with alleged espionage and cyberattacks.
The MV Saviz, an Iranian cargo ship said to serve as a floating base for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces off the coast of Yemen, was struck by an explosion last Tuesday, likely from a limpet mine.
In recent months, at least two Israeli-owned cargo ships have been damaged in alleged Iranian attacks, one in the Gulf of Oman and the other as it was sailing to India.
Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility was hit by a suspected attack on Sunday. Israel is widely believed to have carried out the assault that damaged centrifuges, though it has not claimed it.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday that if Iran determines the Jewish state was behind the strike on Natanz, “then Israel will get its response and will see what a stupid thing it has done.”
Source: TOI
Header: The Israeli-owned cargo ship MV Hyperion Ray departing Koper Port in Slovenia, October 2020. (Screenshot: YouTube)