Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has on Monday accused Tehran of attacking an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman last week.
The attack seen as a mysterious explosion that has further spiked security concerns in the whole of Mideast region.
Netanyahu who without offering any evidence to his claim told Israeli public broadcaster Kan that “it was indeed an act by Iran, that’s clear.”
According to the PM, “Iran is the greatest enemy of Israel, I am determined to halt it. We are hitting it in the entire region.”
The blast struck the Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray, a Bahamian-flagged roll-on, roll-off vehicle cargo ship, as it was sailing out of the Middle East on its way to Singapore on Friday. The crew was unharmed, but the vessel sustained two holes on its port side and two on its starboard side just above the waterline, according to American defense officials.
The ship came to Dubai’s port for repairs on Sunday, days after the blast that revived security concerns in Mideast waterways amid heightened tensions with Iran. Iran has sought to pressure the U.S. to lift sanctions on Tehran as President Joe Biden's administration considers option for returning to negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
It remains unclear what caused the blast. The Helios Ray had discharged cars at various ports in the Persian Gulf before the explosion forced it to reverse course.
In recent days, Israel’s defense minister and army chief had both indicated they held Iran responsible for what they said was an attack on the vessel.
Overnight, Syrian state media reported a series of alleged Israeli airstrikes near Damascus, saying air defense systems had intercepted most of the missiles. Israeli media reports said the alleged airstrikes were on Iranian targets in response to the ship attack.
Israel has struck hundreds of Iranian targets in neighboring Syria in recent years, and Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel will not accept a permanent Syrian military presence there. Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah have provided military support to Syrian President Bashar Assad in the more than decade-long Syrian civil war.
The Israeli military declined comment. There was no immediate response from Iran to the Israeli allegations.
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. Iran has repeatedly vowed to avenge Fakhrizadeh’s killing.
“It is most important that Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons, with or without an agreement, this I also told to my friend Biden," Netanyahu said, referring to the U.S. president.
Iranian threats of retaliation have raised alarms in Israel since the signing of normalization deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in September.
Now that the Democrats are in the U.S white house again, it is expected that the Iranian Nuclear Deal with the world powers and Germany be re-perfected to ensuring ease of economy blockade against Tehran and peace in the Mideast region.
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