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Iranian commandos Saturday seized an Israeli-affiliated container ship carrying 17 Indian crew members, the latest escalation in West Asia’s spiralling tensions which New Delhi has now found itself caught up in.
Members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled down from a helicopter onto the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries near the Strait of Hormuz and, according to state-run IRNA news agency, were taking the ship into Iranian territorial waters.
The seizure followed a suspected Israeli strike this month on an Iranian consular building in Syria’s Damascus that killed 12 people, including a senior Guard general. Iran had vowed to avenge the strike.
The ship is associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime. Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Geneva-based MSC later acknowledged the seizure and said a total of 25 crew members were aboard the vessel.
IRNA said a special forces unit of the Guard’s navy carried out the attack on the ship.
Sources in New Delhi said there are 17 Indian nationals on board, and that officials were in touch with Tehran for the security, welfare and early release of the Indians.
A source in New Delhi said: “We are aware that a cargo ship ‘MSC Aries’ has been taken control by Iran. We have learnt that there are 17 Indian nationals onboard. We are in touch with the Iranian authorities through diplomatic channels, both in Tehran and in Delhi, to ensure security, welfare and early release of Indian nationals.”
New Delhi recently issued a travel advisory in which it has asked Indians to not travel to Iran and Israel “in view of the prevailing situation in the region”.
A Middle East defence official provided a video of the attack to The Associated Press in which Iranian commandos are seen rappelling onto a stack of containers on the vessel’s deck.
A crew member can be heard saying: “Don’t come out.” He then tells his colleagues to go to the ship’s bridge as more commandos come down. One commando can be seen kneeling above the others to provide them potential cover fire.
The video corresponded with known details of the MSC Aries. Also, the commandos rappelled from what appeared to be a Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopter, which both the Guard and the Iranian-backed Houthis have used before to raid ships.
Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip has inflamed decades-old tensions across the region. With Iranian-backed forces like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen’s Houthi rebels also involved in the fighting, any new attack in West Asia threatens to escalate that conflict into a wider regional war.
US media reports cited US officials who believe that there could be reprisal attacks by Iran in the next 48 hours.
Last week, the naval head of the Revolutionary Guards, Alireza Tangsiri, said it could close the Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, if deemed necessary.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz Saturday called on nations to list the Guard as a terrorist organisation. Iran “is a criminal regime that supports Hamas’ crimes and is now conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law,” Katz said.
On April 1, suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in Damascus in a strike that Tehran said killed seven of its military advisers, three of them senior commanders, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in its Quds Force.
Notably, Zahedi was directly responsible for managing Iran’s relationships with Lebanese Hezbollah, the Syrian government and Shia militias in the country, and Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the West Bank.
While Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Israel “must be punished and it shall be”. In response, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed: “Whoever harms us, we will harm them. We are prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively.” On Friday, President Joe Biden warned Iran not to attack Israel.
– With Associated Press
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