JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli authorities said on Wednesday that a Libyan-owned tanker suspected of smuggling oil from Iran to Syria was responsible for dumping tons of crude oil into the eastern Mediterranean last month, one of Israel’s worst. caused environmental disasters.
More than 90% of Israel’s 195 kilometers (120 miles) of Mediterranean coastline were covered with more than 1,000 tons of black tar, the result of the mysterious oil spill in international waters.
The ecological disaster, one of the worst in the country’s history, caused major damage and forced the closure of beaches and a ban on the sale of seafood from the Mediterranean.
A dog smells pieces of tar from an oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea, on a beach in the Gdor Nature Reserve near Michmoret, Israel, Monday, March 1, 2021. The cleanup of the disastrous oil spill that blackens most of the country’s coastline made is expected to last months. (AP Photo / Ariel Schalit)
Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel said the “pirate ship owned by a Libyan company” identified as the “Emerald”, Panamanian flag, filled its stores with oil in the Persian Gulf and then with its transmitters sailed to the coast of Syria.
Ministry officials said he apparently spilled his oil on February 1 or 2 in the eastern Mediterranean, about 70 kilometers off the coast of Israel.
The ship tracking website MarineTraffic.com names the owner as the General National Maritime Transport Co. The company, which describes itself as a Libyan state-owned company with a fleet of 22 vessels, did not respond to messages left after working hours.
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But the UN-led International Maritime Organization said the Emerald had come under new ownership by the end of December 2020. It contains a list of the active owner as Emerald Marine Ltd., which is registered in the Marshall Islands. The maritime and corporate administrators of the Marshall Islands did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rani Amir, one of the ministry’s chief investigators after the incident, said ‘strong evidence’ pointed to the Emerald’s involvement, and that he was allegedly involved in smuggling oil to Syria in violation of international sanctions.
“We do not think it had another purpose,” he said. “The aim was to smuggle oil illegally from Iran to Syria.”
Amir said the spill could have been an accident or an intentional act of terrorism.
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Iranian oil tankers are increasingly accused of smuggling oil out of the country and selling the lucrative crude oil abroad, when then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the Tehran nuclear deal with world powers almost three years ago. Trump has again imposed comprehensive sanctions on the country, including the oil sector, a major source of revenue for Tehran.
In 2019, the United Kingdom seized an Iranian oil tanker suspected of violating European Union sanctions against oil shipments to Syria and launched a series of confrontations. Iranian tankers sometimes eliminate their identification system, which can make it difficult to locate.
Gamliel, however, called the incident a deliberate act of ‘environmental terrorism’ and blamed Iran. Gamliel, a junior minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, provided no evidence to support the theory.
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“We will sue for compensation for all citizens of Israel,” she told a news conference.
Gamliel’s spokesman rejected requests for clarification and Israel’s military and defense and foreign ministries could not confirm the claim.
Iranian officials did not immediately respond to calls for comment.
The Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection has been monitoring the details of its investigation into the incident and a court has issued a gag order on all details of the case.
Bolts of tar first appeared on Israel’s coastline on February 19 after a winter storm drove the snow to the shore. Tar also covered parts of Lebanon’s coastline.
The impact of the oil spill on the ecosystem has yet to be fully assessed, but ecologists and environmental groups estimate the damage is huge.
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Last month, the ministry allocated 45 million shekels ($ 13 million) to the clean-up project, which is expected to take months. The sea held tar on the beaches of Israel for almost two weeks after the disaster struck.