JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused Iran of attacking an Israeli ship in the Gulf of Oman last week, a mysterious explosion that further heightened security concerns in the region.
Without offering any evidence to support his claim, Netanyahu told Israeli public broadcaster Kan that “it was indeed an act of Iran, that is clear.”
“Iran is Israel’s greatest enemy, I am determined to stop it. We’re hitting it across the region, ”Netanyahu said. Iran immediately dismissed the charges.
The blast struck Israeli MV Helios Ray, a Bahamian-flagged roll-on, roll-off freighter, as it left the Middle East bound for Singapore on Friday. The crew was unharmed, but the ship ran into two holes on the port side and two on the starboard side just above the waterline, according to the US Defense.
The ship came to the port of Dubai for repairs on Sunday, days after the explosion that revived safety concerns on the Middle East’s waterways amid heightened tensions with Iran.
Iran has tried to pressure the US to lift sanctions on Tehran as President Joe Biden’s government is considering the option of returning to negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. Biden has said repeatedly that the US would return to the nuclear deal between Tehran and the world powers that its predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew from in 2018, only after Iran returned to full compliance.
The explosion on the Israeli ship last week recalled the exciting summer of 2019, when the US military accused Iran of attacking several oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman with limpet mines designed to be magnetically attached to a ship’s hull. The Gulf of Oman runs through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, a vital passage for the world’s oil supplies. Tehran has denied allegations that it was behind the limpet mine attacks.
It remains unclear what caused Friday’s explosion on the Helios Ray. The ship had unloaded cars at various ports in the Persian Gulf before the explosion forced it to change course. Last weekend, Israel’s defense minister and army chief had both indicated that they held Iran responsible for what they said was an attack on the ship.
Iran responded to Netanyahu’s statement, saying it “firmly rejected” the allegation that it was behind the attack. In a press conference, State Department spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Netanyahu “was obsessed with Iran” and described his accusations as “fear-mongering.”
Khatibzadeh also accused Israel of taking “suspicious actions in the region” against Iran in recent months to undermine the 2015 nuclear deal without elaborating further, and vowed that Iran would respond.
“Israel is well aware that our response to national security has always been fierce and accurate,” he said.
Overnight, Syrian state media reported a series of alleged Israeli air strikes near Damascus, claiming that air defense systems had intercepted most of the missiles. According to Israeli media reports, the alleged air strikes on Iranian targets were in response to the ship attack.
Israel has hit hundreds of Iranian targets in neighboring Syria in recent years, and Netanyahu has said repeatedly that Israel will not accept a permanent Iranian military presence there. Iran and its Lebanese plenipotentiary Hezbollah have provided military support to Syrian President Bashar Assad in the Syrian civil war that has spanned more than a decade.
The Israeli military declined to comment.
Iran has also blamed Israel for a recent string of attacks, including another mysterious explosion last summer that destroyed an advanced centrifuge assembly plant at its Natanz nuclear power plant and the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top Iranian scientist who defends the Islamic military Republic founded. decades ago. Iran has repeatedly vowed to avenge Fakhrizadeh’s murder.
“It is very important that Iran has no nuclear weapons, with or without a deal, I told my friend Biden,” Netanyahu said Monday.
Iranian threats of retaliation have raised alarm in Israel since standardization deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were signed in September.
Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre in Dubai, UAE, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran contributed to this report.