Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a cargo ship said to be “linked to Israel,” Iranian state media reported Saturday.
The Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries vessel was boarded near the Strait of Hormuz between the United Arab Emirates and Iran and was being transferred to Iran’s territorial waters, according to state news agency IRNA. The ship is said to be operated by the Zodiac shipping company, which IRNA linked to Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer. Zodiac stated the ship is managed and operated by U.K.–based shipping company MSC.
Video footage shows IRGC commandos rappelling from a helicopter onto the ship.
Seizure of the vessel comes amid increasing tensions between Iran and Israel. At the start of the month, an airstrike that Iran attributes to Israel killed seven IRGC officials, including top Iranian military commanders, at the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strike, but Iran has since vowed retaliation against the Israeli government.
An Iranian-led attack on Israel is expected to be imminent, the U.S. said Friday. Once the attack occurs, it will likely lead to a wider regional conflict amid the Israel–Hamas war.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said, “Iran will bear the consequences for choosing to escalate the situation any further.” His warning was not in direct response to the cargo ship, though the statement did come shortly after the seizure. “Israel is on high alert. We have increased our readiness to protect Israel from further Iranian aggression. We are also prepared to respond,” Hagari added.
U.K. foreign secretary David Cameron said he spoke with Israeli war-cabinet member Benny Gantz on Saturday “to discuss our shared concerns about Iranian threats to attack Israel.” It was unclear whether the conversation occurred before or after IRGC’s seizure of MSC Aries. “Further escalation in the region is in no one’s interest and risks further loss of civilian life,” Cameron added.
Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz directly responded to the vessel seizure, saying that Iran is conducting piracy and should be sanctioned for it.
“The Ayatollah regime of Khamenei is a criminal regime that supports Hamas’s crimes and is now conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law,” Katz said. “I call on the EU and the free world to immediately declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guards corps as a terrorist organization and to sanction Iran now.”