Two killed in alleged Iranian drone attack on Israeli-managed ship

Two mariners were killed in an alleged Iranian drone attack on a ship managed by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer’s shipping company in the Northern Indian Ocean on Thursday night, Channel 13 reported.

The allegation that Iran used a drone to attack the vessel was made by an unnamed Israeli official on Channel 13. “There is an Iranian terrorist attack here, two innocent people were killed,” said the anonymous source, “The Iranians attacked the ship with an unmanned aircraft. An innocent ship with innocent dead. ” According to Iranian news outlet al-Alam, the attack was in response to an alleged Israeli airstrike which targeted the Dabaa military airport in the Homs governorate of northwestern Syria.

an unnamed Israeli official stated that “Iran sows violence and destruction in the entire region.””The Iranian attack was carried out only days before the swearing in of Raisi. The masks are coming off, no one can pretend to be ignorant of the true nature of the Iranian regime.””Iran is not just Israel’s problem,” the unnamed source added. “Iran is a global problem and the regime’s actions risk the flow and freedom of global shipping and trade.”

An American source also informed Walla news that the attack was conducted with a drone, specifying that it was a suicide drone strike. 

Zodiac Maritime listed the nationality of the crew members killed in the attack as Romanian and United Kingdom. According to Channel 13, the senior official claimed “the Romanian killed was the captain of the ship and the British was a security guard.” The company is not aware of any other injuries.

The vessel, a Japanese-owned product tanker called M/T Mercer Street, was allegedly attacked by pirates as it was sailing from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to Fujairah, UAE with “no cargo onboard,”  the Zodiac Maritime shipping company said in its statement.

“We are in coordination and liaising with the UK MTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations) and other relevant authorities,” said Zodiac Maritime.

However, the UKMTO issued an advisory categorizing the incident as a “non-piracy” attack. The source of UKMTO’s info was a third party, and the information has not yet been verified. Zodiac Maritime also deleted its initial statement from its website, though has not removed the statement from Twitter.

UKMTO confirmed Friday afternoon that search and rescue and coalition naval forces were on scene. 

“Regional SAR authorities and coalition forces have been tasked to assist affected vessel. Investigations remain ongoing,” UKMTO said on Twitter. 
Zodiac Maritime announced on Friday afternoon that the M/T Mercer Street was in a condition that allowed it to sail under its own power and crew. The vessel is under the escort of a US naval vessel and en route to a safe location.

The attack was initially announced by the British Defense Ministry and reported by the Associated Press. The  British Defense Ministry did not provide further details, other than that the incident occurred Thursday night near the Omani island of Masirah, 300 km. from the capital Muscat, and was being investigated.

Oman, Israeli military sources and the US Fifth Fleet, which patrols the area, have yet to comment on the situation, AP reported.

In line with the initial statement by Zodiac Maritime, the Northern Indian Ocean is within the range of Somali pirates, who use motherships to reach long-distance targets.

In the early 2000s, Somali pirates terrorized the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba before expanding operations to catch ships avoiding their operations.  

Disguising themselves as fishermen “they often use AK-47s and speedboats, and they were in [groups of] six to 10 well-armed men,” Abdi Yusuf, a counter-terrorism expert based in Nairobi, previously explained to The Jerusalem Post Magazine. The pirates then board and hold the vessel, crew, and cargo hostage for a ransom.

The One Earth Future Foundation estimated the cost of piracy of the global economy to be up to $6.9 billion in 2011 and up to $12 billion in 2010.  Since the use of private maritime security contractors on merchant vessels, and the increased patrolling of the high traffic area by world navies, Somali piracy has significantly reduced.Despite the Zodiac Maritime report of piracy, Yusuf cautioned The Jerusalem Post that Iran could have been behind the attack. It “seems that it’s Iranian proxies who are behind these attacks. They are targeting Israeli ships in what appears to be Tehran’s latest shadow war against Israel.”

Vessels owned or previously owned by Israelis have also come under a spate of attacks recently, allegedly by Iranian operatives.

On July 4 a cargo ship previously owned by an Israeli businessman was struck by an “unknown weapon” in the northern Indian Ocean, causing a fire to erupt onboard the vessel.In April 2021, an Israeli-owned ship called the Hyperion was attacked near the shores of the Fujairah emirate in the United Arab Emirates after Iran vowed vengeance for the attack on the Natanz nuclear facility, which it blames on Israel. A week before that, an Iranian vessel was attacked in the Red Sea, near Djibouti, with The New York Times having reported that Israel confirmed to the US that it was responsible for it.Defense Minister Gantz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi spoke together on the phone following the attack, The Post was told. Israel sees the drone strike as a serious terror attack.