JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused Iran of attacking an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman last week, a mysterious explosion that further fueled security issues in the region. has.
Without providing evidence for his claim, Netanyahu told Israeli public broadcaster Kan that “it was indeed an act of Iran, it is clear.”
“Iran is Israel’s biggest enemy. I’m determined to stop it. We are hitting it all over the region, ”Netanyahu said. Iran immediately dismissed the charges.
The blast hit Israeli MV Helios Ray, a Bahamian flag roll-and-roll cargo ship as it sailed from the Middle East en route to Singapore on Friday. The crew was unharmed, but according to U.S. defense officials, the vessel sustained two holes on the port side and two on the starboard side just above the waterline.
The ship arrived at the port of Dubai on Sunday for repairs, days after the blast that revived security concerns in Middle Waterways amid heightened tensions with Iran.
Iran has sought to put pressure on the US to lift sanctions against Tehran as President Joe Biden’s government considers considering returning to talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Biden has repeatedly said that the US will return to the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers from which its predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew in 2018 after Iran restored its full compliance with the agreement.
The explosion on the ship owned by Israel last week is reminiscent of the tense summer of 2019, when the US military accused Iran of attacking several oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman with slapmines, designed to magnetically attach to the ship’s hull. to be attached. The Gulf of Oman leads through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, an important passage for the world’s oil reserves. Tehran has denied allegations that it was behind the sluggish mine attacks.
It remains unclear what caused Friday’s explosion on the Helios Ray. The vessel unloaded cars at various ports in the Persian Gulf before the explosion forced it to turn off course. Over the weekend, Israel’s defense minister and army chief both indicated that they held Iran accountable for what they said was an attack on the vessel.
Iran has responded to Netanyahu’s statement, saying it “strongly rejects the allegation that it was behind the attack”. Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news conference that Netanyahu was suffering from an obsession with Iran and described his charges as “frightening”.
Khatibzadeh also accused Israel of taking ‘suspicious actions in the region’ against Iran in recent months to undermine the 2015 nuclear deal, without extending it, and promised that Iran would respond.
“Israel knows full well that our response to national security has always been fierce and accurate,” he said.
Syrian state media reported overnight a series of alleged Israeli airstrikes near Damascus, saying air defense systems intercepted most of the missiles. Israeli media reports said the alleged airstrikes were on Iranian targets in response to the ship attack.
Israel has hit hundreds of Iranian targets in neighboring Syria in recent years, and Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel will not accept a permanent Iranian military presence there. Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah have provided military support to Syrian President Bashar Assad in the more than ten-year-long Syrian civil war.
The Israeli army declined to comment.
Iran also blamed Israel for a recent series of attacks, including another mysterious explosion last summer that destroyed an advanced centrifuge assembly plant at its Natanz nuclear facility and the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top Iranian scientist. which established the Islamic Republic’s military nuclear program two. decades ago. Iran has repeatedly vowed to avenge the assassination of Fakhrizadeh.
“The most important thing is that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, with or without an agreement, I also told my friend Biden,” Netanyahu said on Monday.
Iranian threats of retaliation have raised alarm in Israel since the signing of normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in September.
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Associated Press authors Isabel DeBre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.