DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – An Iranian cargo ship believed to be a base for the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and anchored for years in the Red Sea off Yemen has been attacked, Iranian state television acknowledged Wednesday.
The state television acknowledgment, citing foreign media outlets, marks the first Iranian comment on Tuesday’s mysterious incident involving the MV Saviz, allegedly carried out by Israel. The attack came when Iran and world powers settled in Vienna for initial talks about the possible US return to Tehran’s torn nuclear deal, showing that the challenges ahead are not just in those negotiations.
The ship’s long-standing presence in the region, repeatedly criticized by Saudi Arabia, has come as Western and United Nations experts say Iran has provided weapons and support to the Houthi rebels in Yemen amid years of war. that land. Iran denies armament of Houthis, although parts found in rebel armament go back to Tehran
Iran previously described that the Saviz aided in “anti-piracy” efforts in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb strait, a crucial bottleneck in international shipping.
In the state television statement, an anchor quoted a story from the New York Times, quoting an anonymous US official telling the newspaper that Israel had informed America that it had attacked the ship Tuesday morning. Israeli officials declined to comment on the incident when reached by The Associated Press, as did the owner of the Saviz.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought up Iran in a speech to his Likud party on Tuesday after he was asked to form a government following the country’s recent elections.
“We should not go back to the dangerous nuclear deal with Iran, because a nuclear Iran is an existential threat to the State of Israel and a major threat to the security of the entire world,” Netanyahu said.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to the Guard, reported the attack Tuesday evening, saying explosives planted on the Saviz’s hull detonated. It didn’t blame anyone for the attack, saying Iranian officials would likely provide more information in the coming days.
In a statement, the US Army’s Central Command said only that it was “aware of media coverage of an incident involving the Saviz in the Red Sea.”
“We can confirm that no US forces were involved in the incident,” the command said. “We don’t have to provide additional information.”
Owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s state-affiliated shipping companies, the Saviz came to the Red Sea in late 2016, according to ship tracking data. In the years since, it has drifted from the Dahlak Archipelago, a chain of islands off the coast of the nearby African country of Eritrea in the Red Sea. It likely got supplies replenished and changed crews via passing Iranian ships using the waterway.
Saudi military briefing material previously obtained by the AP showed men aboard the ship dressed in camouflage, military fatigues, as well as small boats capable of carrying cargo to the Yemeni coast. That briefing material also included photos showing a variety of antennas on the ship that the Saudi government described as unusual for a commercial freighter, suggesting it was conducting electronic surveillance. Other images showed the ship had mounts for .50 caliber machine guns.
The Washington Institute for Near-East Policy has called the Saviz an “Iranian mothership” in the region, similarly describing it as an intelligence gathering base and armory for the Guard. The Institute’s policy documents do not explain how they arrived at that conclusion, although the analysts routinely have access to military resources from the Gulf and Israel.
The Saviz was under international sanctions until Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, in which Tehran received economic support in exchange for limiting uranium enrichment. The Trump administration later renewed US sanctions against the Saviz as part of its decision to unilaterally withdraw from the accord.
In June 2019, Saudi Arabia flew a seriously ill Iranian from the Saviz after Tehran requested help through the United Nations.
Amid the wider tensions between the US and Iran, a series of mysterious detonations have targeted ships in the region, including some that the US Navy blamed on Iran.Ships recently damaged included an Israeli-owned car carrier in attack Netanyahu blamed on IranAnother was an Iranian freighter in the Mediterranean
Iran has also blamed Israel for a recent string of attacks, including a mysterious explosion in July that destroyed an advanced centrifuge assembly plant. at the nuclear facility in Natanz. Another is the murder of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November, a top Iranian scientist who founded the Islamic Republic’s military nuclear program two decades ago.
Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP