An oil tanker affiliated with an Israeli billionaire has been struck by a bomb-carrying drone off the coast of Oman amid heightened tensions with Iran, an formal informed The Linked Press on Wednesday.
The attack happened Tuesday evening off the coastline of Oman, the Mideast-primarily based protection official reported. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they did not have authorization to discuss the attack publicly.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Functions, a British armed forces organization in the area checking shipping and delivery, explained to the AP: “We are informed of an incident and it is getting investigated at this time.”
The formal determined the vessel attacked as the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Pacific Zircon. That tanker is operated by Singapore-centered Eastern Pacific Shipping, which is a organization in the end owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer.
A mobile phone range for Jap Pacific rang unanswered Wednesday.
Whilst no a person quickly claimed duty for the attack, suspicion instantly fell on Iran. Tehran and Israel have been engaged in a yearslong shadow war in the wider Middle East, with some drone attacks targeting Israeli-involved vessels touring around the area.
The U.S. also blamed Iran for a series of attacks transpiring off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in 2019. Tehran then experienced started escalating its nuclear application following the U.S.′ unilateral withdraw from its atomic offer with globe powers.
Iranian state media did not quickly acknowledge the attack on the Pacific Zircon.