An oil tanker related to an Israeli billionaire has been struck by a bomb-carrying drone off the coast of Oman amid heightened tensions with Iran, an official instructed The Related Press on Wednesday.
The assault occurred Tuesday night time off the coast of Oman, the Mideast-based protection official stated. The official spoke on situation of anonymity as they didn’t have authorization to debate the assault publicly.
The UK Maritime Commerce Operations, a British navy group within the area monitoring transport, instructed the AP: “We’re conscious of an incident and it’s being investigated at the moment.”
The official recognized the vessel attacked because the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Pacific Zircon. That tanker is operated by Singapore-based Japanese Pacific Delivery, which is an organization in the end owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer.
A cellphone quantity for Japanese Pacific rang unanswered Wednesday.
Whereas nobody instantly claimed accountability for the assault, suspicion instantly fell on Iran. Tehran and Israel have been engaged in a yearslong shadow war in the wider Middle East, with some drone assaults focusing on Israeli-associated vessels touring across the area.
The U.S. additionally blamed Iran for a series of attacks occurring off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in 2019. Tehran then had begun escalating its nuclear program following the U.S.′ unilateral withdraw from its atomic cope with world powers.
Iranian state media didn’t instantly acknowledge the assault on the Pacific Zircon.
