Ship tied to Israel billionaire reportedly attacked off Oman

An oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire reportedly got here below assault off the coast of Oman within the Arabian Sea, authorities stated Friday, as particulars concerning the incident remained few.
The assault Thursday night time focused Liberian-flagged oil tanker Mercer Street simply northeast of the Omani island of Masirah. The location is over 300 kilometres (185 miles) southeast of Oman’s capital, Muscat.
Israeli officers didn’t instantly acknowledge the assault, nevertheless it comes amid heightened tensions between it and Iran as negotiations stay stalled over Tehran’s nuclear take care of world powers. Other Israel-linked ships have been focused in current months as properly amid a shadow conflict between the 2 nations, with Israeli officers blaming the Islamic Republic for the assaults.
An temporary preliminary assertion from the British navy’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations stated an investigation was underway into the incident, which it described as taking place late Thursday night time.
The assertion didn’t elaborate, different to say that it suspected the assault didn’t contain piracy. Earlier on Thursday, the British navy group had stated it was investigating one other unexplained incident in the identical space, nevertheless it didn’t elaborate.
London-based Zodiac Management, a part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group, issued an announcement saying the ship was the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Mercer Street and was Japanese owned. The British Defense Ministry earlier misidentified the ship’s homeowners.
They described the assault as “piracy”, with out elaborating.
“At the time of the incident the vessel was in the northern Indian Ocean, travelling from Dar es Salaam to Fujairah with no cargo on board,” the assertion stated.
Satellite monitoring knowledge from MarineTraffic.com confirmed the vessel had been close to the place British officers stated the assault occurred.

Oman didn’t acknowledge an assault and officers there didn’t reply to requests for remark. The U.S. Navy’s fifth Fleet, which patrols the Mideast, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions over Iran’s tattered nuclear deal and as negotiations over restoring the accord have stalled in Vienna. Since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, there have been a collection of ship assaults within the area suspected to have been carried out by Tehran.
Iranian media quoted international stories on the assault, however didn’t elaborate.