DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – An Israeli freighter that sustained a mysterious explosion in the Gulf of Oman came to the port of Dubai for repair on Sunday, days after the explosion that revived safety concerns in the Middle East’s waterways amid heightened tensions with Iran.
Associated Press journalists spotted the colossal Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray sitting at dry dock facilities in Port Rashid, Dubai. Although the crew was unharmed in the explosion, the ship ran into two holes on the port side and two on the starboard side just above the waterline, according to the American defense.
It remains unclear what triggered the blast, but the incident comes amid mounting tension between the US and Iran over the 2015 unraveling nuclear deal. Iran has tried to pressure President Joe Biden’s administration to ease sanctions which it received under the accord with world powers that former President Donald Trump had given up.
AP journalists could not immediately see the damage to the ship from shore. The dock blocked the view from the starboard side of the ship to the waterline and the port side could only be seen from a distance. The ship was anchored near Dubai’s legendary floating hotel, the Queen Elizabeth 2. An Emirates Coast Guard vessel sailed behind the ship, with vehicles from the Dubai Police and Emirates Armed Forces nearby.
Emirates officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the ship docking in the country.
Friday’s blast on the ship, a Bahamian-flagged roll-on, roll-off freighter, recalled a series of attacks on foreign oil tankers in 2019 that the U.S. Navy blamed Iran. Tehran has denied any role in the suspected attacks, which took place near the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil bottleneck.
Israeli ambassador to the US and the UN, Gilad Erdan, told Israeli army radio on Sunday that “it was no secret that the Iranians are trying to harm Israeli targets,” claiming that the blast on the ship bore the hallmarks of earlier Iranians. to attack.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday claimed responsibility for firing a ballistic missile and nine bomb-laden drones. in “sensitive locations” in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh the night before. The group’s military spokesman, Yahia Sarei, added that another six explosive drones targeted “military positions” in the southwestern cities of Abha and Khamis Mushait. The Saudi interception of the missile triggered an apparent explosion over Riyadh, scaring residents and scattering grenade debris without causing any casualties.
The Helios Ray had unloaded cars at various ports in the Persian Gulf before departing from the Middle East for Singapore. The explosion struck when the ship sailed out of the Gulf of Oman from the Saudi port of Dammam, forcing it to go to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for inspection.
Iranian authorities have not responded publicly to the ship. The country’s harsh newspaper Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief had been appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, claimed the Helios Ray was “possibly” on an “espionage” mission in the region, without offering any evidence to support the claim. support. Sunday’s report speculated that the ship may have been “ambushed by a branch of the resistance axis,” referring to Iranian allies in the region.
Iran has also blamed Israel for a recent string of attacks, including a mysterious explosion last summer which 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.
Iran’s repeated vows to avenge Fakhrizadeh’s assassination have raised alarm in Israel, especially as the Gulf sees an increase in Israeli traffic following the country’s normalization deals with the UAE and Bahrain.
Jon Gambrell and Malak Harb from Associated Press in Dubai, UAE, Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.