New York Times: ‘Israeli Officials Say Iran Is Behind Deadly Attack on Oil Tanker’
Image from the New York Times article by Johan Davies / AP.
When the product tanker Mercer Street was fatally attacked by Iranian drones on 29 July, the New York Times asked CEO Hans Tino Hansen for a comment, as Risk Intelligence has been monitoring the Israeli-Iranian engagement in the maritime domain for several years.
30 July 2021
On Thursday 29 July, an oil tanker managed by an Israeli-owned shipping firm, Zodiac Maritime, was attacked off the coast of Oman, killing two crew members, according to the firm and three Israeli officials. The New York Times interviewed two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, and who said the attack appeared to have been carried out by several unmanned Iranian drones that crashed into living quarters underneaththe ship’s command center, or bridge.
In the article, journalists Patrick Kingsley and Ronen Bergman write:
“The incident was apparently the latest salvo in a maritime shadow war between Iran and Israel, and the first attack known to have killed civilians. […] But Zodiac, which manages the Mercer Street, is led by Eyal Ofer, an Israeli shipping magnate, prompting someanalysts to speculate that it may have been targeted by Iranians, even before the Israeli officials identified the drones as Iranian.”
Asked whether this indicates an escalation in the maritime clashes between Iran and Israel, CEO Hans Tino Hansen said:
“The pattern of the attack and the outcome seems like a serious escalation in the Iranian-Israeli ‘tit for tat’ engagement that has been ongoing in the maritime domain over the last couple of years.”
The New York Times article can be found here: Israeli Officials Say Iran Is Behind Deadly Attack on Oil Tanker
Updates on the situation in the Gulf of Oman can be found on the Risk Intelligence System.