DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – An explosion struck an Israeli freighter sailing out of the Middle East on Friday, an inexplicable explosion that renewed concerns about the safety of ships in the region amid mounting tensions between the US and Iran. .
The crew and ship were safe, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which is run by the British Navy. The explosion in the Gulf of Oman forced the ship to the nearest port.
The incident recalled the summer of 2019, when a series of suspected attacks took place at the same site that the US Navy blamed on Iran, which Tehran denied. Meanwhile, as US President Joe Biden tries to revive nuclear negotiations with Iran, he ordered nighttime air strikes at facilities in Syria belonging to a powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group.
Dryad Global, a maritime intelligence company, identified the affected ship as the MV Helios Ray, a roll-on, roll-off cargo ship flying the Bahamian flag. Another private security officer, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence issues, identified the ship in the same way as the Helios Ray.
Satellite tracking data from the website MarineTraffic.com showed that the Helios Ray had almost entered the Arabian Sea at around 6 a.m. GMT on Friday, before suddenly turning and heading back to the Strait of Hormuz. It came from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, and still listed Singapore as its destination on its tracker.
Israel’s Channel 13 said in an unsourced report that Israel’s assessment is that Iran was behind the explosion. Israeli officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The explosion comes as Tehran increasingly violates the 2015 nuclear accord with world powers to create influence over Washington. Iran is trying to pressure Biden to ease sanctions it received under the deal that former President Donald Trump left almost three years ago.
Iran has also blamed Israel for a recent string of attacks, including a mysterious explosion last summer that destroyed an advanced centrifuge assembly plant at the Natanz nuclear facility and the murder of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top Iranian scientist who founded the Islamic Republic’s military nuclear program two decades ago.
Captain Ranjith Raja of the data company Refinitiv told the AP that the Israeli-owned ship had left the Persian Gulf on Thursday on its way to Singapore. At 02:30 GMT on Friday, the ship stopped at least 9 hours east of a major Omani port before making a 360-degree turn and heading towards Dubai, likely for damage assessment and repairs, he said.
The ship came loaded with cargo from Europe. It has unloaded vehicles at several ports in the region, Raja added, including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the last port of call being Dammam.
While details of the explosion remained unclear, two US defense officials told the AP that the ship sustained two holes on the port side and two holes on the starboard side just above the waterline during the blast. Officials said it remained unclear what caused the holes. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss undisclosed information about the incidents.
A United Nations ship database identified the ship’s owners as a Tel Aviv-based firm called Ray Shipping Ltd. Calls to Ray Shipping went unanswered on Friday.
Abraham Ungar, 74, who is called “Rami”, is the founder of Ray Shipping Ltd. and is known as one of the richest men in Israel. He made his fortune in shipping and construction.
According to the Nikola Y. Vaptsarov Naval Academy, where Ungar provides support and naval training, he owns dozens of car-carrying ships and employs thousands of engineers.
The Bahrain-based US Navy’s 5th Fleet said it was “aware and monitoring” the situation.
While the circumstances of the explosion remain unclear, Dryad Global said it was quite possible that the explosion was the result of “asymmetric activity by Iranian military personnel.”
As Iran seeks to pressure the United States to lift sanctions, the country may try to “use military means to practice vigorous diplomacy,” Dryad reported. Iran did not immediately acknowledge the incident.
In the tense summer of 2019, the US military blamed Iran for explosions on two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategic shipping routes. The US had also attributed a series of other suspected attacks to Iran, including the use of limpet mines – designed to be magnetically attached to a ship’s hull – to paralyze four oil tankers off the nearby Emirati port of Fujairah.
Since the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, the Iranian nuclear scientist, last November, Israeli officials have raised the alarm about possible Iranian retaliation, including through his regional proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Over the years, Iran has been associated with attacks on Israeli and Jewish civilian targets in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Israel has not commented on its alleged role in the scientist’s murder.
Friday’s incident also follows standardization agreements between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain. The deals, met with devastating criticism from Iran, reinforced an emerging regional alliance against the Islamic Republic.
Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.