Report: Israeli Ship Hit with Missile Launched by Iran
Iran appears to have escalated months of naval jousting with Israel after an Israeli-owned ship was reportedly struck by a missile Thursday in the Gulf of Oman.
The cargo ship Lori, owned by XT Management Ltd., which is based in Haifa, was en route from Tanzania to India when it was attacked, according to The Times of Israel.
No one was reported injured in the attack. The ship was able to continue toward its destination.
Although no formal blame for the attack was made, media accounts fingered Iran as the most likely culprit.
The route taken by the Israeli ship #lori immediately after being attacked. There are no casualties or injuries, the ship continued its journey towards India pic.twitter.com/6MdN6hN02f
— Francesco (@FrankCalcagno) March 25, 2021
#Breaking
This is the damage caused to the ship. pic.twitter.com/DCXo4iblak— ORI – WorldNews IL (@OriElmakayes) March 25, 2021
“This isn’t the start of a naval campaign, rather we’re in the midst of one,” intelligence analyst Ronen Solomon said, according to Bloomberg.
The response to the Iranian attack on the Israeli ship will be to hit Iranian proxies in Syria
It is not convenient for either of us to take the war to sea #Syria #Iran #Israel #lori #war— Francesco (@FrankCalcagno) March 25, 2021
IF true, Iran needs to be punished. The EU must support (political & military assistance, if necessary) Israel and US on whatever action they take.
Iran fired missile at Israeli ship in Arabian Sea – report
— Dipu (@dipu412) March 25, 2021
Last month, another Israeli-owned ship was the victim of an explosion in the Gulf of Oman.
Israel blamed that attack on Iran as well, according to Haaretz.
“Iran is the greatest enemy of Israel, I am determined to halt it. We are hitting it in the entire region,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time of last month’s attack on Israeli shipping, according to the U.K. Daily Mail.
Iran denied any connection to the attack.
Haaretz also noted that Israel is suspected of attacking several dozen Iranian oil tankers and that an Iranian container ship was attacked in the Mediterranean Sea two weeks ago.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel has used mines and similar weapons against Iranian vessels in attacks that damaged but did not sink the tankers.
In further reporting on Israel’s efforts against Iran, Haaretz noted, “It’s likely that in a large number of the other incidents, quiet acts of sabotage were carried out that damaged critical functions of the ships without this entailing the detonation of a bomb or the firing of a missile. In some cases ships were destroyed beyond repair, and the Iranians had to tow them back to the home port.”
In 2019, attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf that were blamed on Iran ratcheted up tensions in the region, leading to a U.S. military buildup.
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