Israel did not immediately comment on the blast.
Mv helios ray series#
In the preceding months, the US had attributed a series of suspected attacks to Iran, including the use of limpet mines - designed to be attached magnetically to a ship’s hull - to cripple four oil tankers off the nearby Emirati port of Fujairah. The explosion on Friday recalled the summer of 2019, when the US military blamed Iran for suspected attacks on two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategic shipping lanes. Illustrative: A picture obtained by AFP from Iranian News Agency ISNA on June 13, 2019, shows fire and smoke billowing from a tanker said to have been attacked in the waters of the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss unreleased information on the incidents.
The officials said it remained unclear what caused the holes. While details of the explosion remained unclear, two American defense officials told the AP that the ship had sustained two holes on its port side and two holes on its starboard side just above the waterline in the blast. She declined to immediately comment further. The US Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet was “aware and monitoring” the situation, Cmdr. Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian February 26, 2021 The explosion forced the vessel, reported to be the Helios Ray, to head to the nearest port. It discharged vehicles at several ports in the region, Raja added, including in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with its last port of call at Dammam.Īn explosion struck an Israeli-owned cargo ship sailing in the Gulf of Oman Friday. The vessel came loaded with cargo from Europe. Early Friday morning, the vessel stopped for at least nine hours east of a main Omani port before making a 360-degree turn and sailing toward Dubai, likely for damage assessment and repairs, he said. Ranjith Raja of the data firm Refinitiv told the AP that the Israeli-owned vessel had left the Persian Gulf Thursday bound for Singapore. The network said US officials will inspect the ship once it reaches Dubai for repairs. Ray Shipping confirmed that one of its vessels carrying a “Bahamas flag” was damaged “when an explosion was heard in the Persian Gulf near the Straits of Hormuz.” Hebrew media reported that Ungar is close to Yossi Cohen, head of the Mossad spy agency. He made his fortune in shipping and construction. Iran also has blamed Israel for a recent series of attacks, including a mysterious explosion last summer that destroyed an advanced centrifuge assembly plant at its Natanz nuclear facility and the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top Iranian scientist who founded the Islamic Republic’s military nuclear program two decades ago.Ī United Nations ship database identified the vessel’s owners as a Tel Aviv-based firm called Ray Shipping Ltd.Ībraham Ungar, 74, who goes by “Rami,” is the founder of Ray Shipping Ltd., and is known as one of the richest men in Israel. The deal saw Tehran agree to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of crippling sanctions. In recent weeks, as the administration of Joe Biden looked to re-engage with Iran, Tehran has escalated its breaches of the nuclear accord to create leverage over Washington. (Screen capture/Channel 13)Īs Iran seeks to pressure the United States to lift sanctions, the country may seek “to exercise forceful diplomacy through military means,” Dryad reported. Haaretz and Channel 13 said in unsourced reports that Iran knew the ship was Israeli, but the ship’s owner and other reports said it was unlikely.ĭamage is seen in the Israeli-owned ship that hit by an explosion in the Gulf of Oman on February 26, 2021. There were conflicting reports on whether Iran would have known the ship was Israeli-owned. The Friday explosion came amid high tensions between Iran and the Biden administration, which took its first military action Thursday night against Iranian-backed militia in Syria in response to attacks on US forces in the Middle East. Tehran had denied the accusations, which came after Trump abandoned Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed harsh sanctions on the country. The area of the blast, off Iran’s coast at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, saw a series of explosions in 2019 that the US Navy blamed on Iran, against the backdrop of steeply rising threats between former US president Donald Trump and Iranian leaders. Reported (unconfirmed) photos from the damage caused to the #Israel|i owned MV Helios Ray in the Gulf of Oman.
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