Netanyahu accuses Iran of attacking Israeli-owned cargo ship

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused Iran of attacking an Israeli-owned ship within the Gulf of Oman final week.
Netanyahu spoke to Israeli public broadcaster Kan and stated that “it was indeed an act by Iran, that’s clear.”
“Iran is the greatest enemy of Israel, I am determined to halt it. We are hitting it in the entire region,” Netanyahu stated.
The mysterious explosion struck the Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray, a Bahamian-flagged roll-on, roll-off car cargo ship, because it was crusing out of the Middle East on its strategy to Singapore on Friday.
The crew was unhurt within the blast, however the vessel sustained two holes on its port facet and two on its starboard facet simply above the waterline, in line with American protection officers.
The ship got here to Dubai’s port for repairs on Sunday, days after the blast that revived safety considerations in Mideast waterways amid heightened tensions with Iran.
It stays unclear what brought on the blast. The Helios Ray had discharged vehicles at numerous ports within the Persian Gulf earlier than the explosion pressured it to reverse course. It docked in Dubai on Sunday for repairs and inspection.
In current days, Israel’s protection minister and military chief had each indicated they held Iran chargeable for the assault.
Overnight, Syrian state media reported a collection of alleged Israeli airstrikes close to Damascus, saying air protection methods had intercepted a lot of the missiles.
Israeli media stories stated the alleged airstrikes had been on Iranian targets in response to the ship assault.
Israel has struck lots of of Iranian targets in neighboring Syria lately, and Netanyahu has repeatedly stated Israel is not going to settle for a everlasting Syrian navy presence there.

The Israeli navy declined remark. There was no quick response from Iran to the Israeli allegations.
Iran additionally has blamed Israel for a current collection of assaults, together with a mysterious explosion final summer season that destroyed a complicated centrifuge meeting plant at its Natanz nuclear facility and the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a prime Iranian scientist who based the Islamic Republic’s navy nuclear program 20 years in the past. Iran has repeatedly vowed to avenge Fakhrizadeh’s killing.

Iranian threats of retaliation have raised alarms in Israel following the nation’s normalization offers with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.