On Saturday, a cargo ship headed to the United Arab Emirates was reportedly attacked in the Indian Ocean, resulting in a fire on board. Iran is suspected of being behind the strike, according to Israeli officials.
The ship had previously been owned by an Israeli businessman before being sold to a British company. N12, which cited unnamed sources within Jeddah to the United Arab Emirates, said, Israeli defense officials were investigating whether Iranian forces are behind a possible missile attack on a cargo ship under partial Israeli ownership on Saturday while on its way from and continuing on its journey after the incident.
The crew was unharmed, and Israel's defense establishment did not severely damage the ship, which had been struck by a missile. The Tyndall is owned by Zodiac Maritime Ltd, a London-based multinational ship management firm that later clarified that it does not own or operate the CSAV Tyndall.
Iran is suspected in cargo ship missile attack
The Tyndall, a Liberian-flagged cargo ship, was damaged this weekend in the aftermath of a series of sabotage events involving Israeli and Iranian ships in the region, according to the Lebanese news channel Al-Mayadeen. Despite initial reports that the cargo ship was owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, sources eventually revealed that it had just been sold and that the crew was not from Israel.
Per Newsweek, the ship is currently waving the Liberian flag; and the occurrence on Sunday is still being investigated by defense authorities from various countries in the region. The container ship was sold by the Ofer family two months ago, and the vessel is presently unaffiliated with any Israeli firm.
Iranian retribution might be the cause of the Tyndall incident, Israeli reports suggested. The event might be related to a sabotage operation against Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) in the neighborhood of the Iranian city of Karaj, according to the N12 Israeli station on Sunday. For years, Israel has launched a "war-between-wars" naval campaign against Iran, focusing on disrupting any possible weapons shipments to Hezbollah in Syria.
There are no Israelis on board the Tyndall, therefore if the attack allegations are true, it means Iran or one of its allies targeted the ship based on outdated or incorrect intelligence. "Someone is following the ships with some intelligence access. No mark identifies this ship as an Israeli ship. There are no Israeli crew members," said Yoruk Isik, an Istanbul-based marine specialist, The Independent via MSN reported.
Longtime foes Iran and Israel have been exchanging attacks on one other's vessels for months. In February and April, Israel-owned commercial vessels were attacked in the Gulf of Oman. In April, an Iranian cargo ship was targeted in the Red Sea; and in June, Iran's largest navy ship sunk in the Gulf of Oman after a fire.
There were no injuries among the crew members, according to reports. The Tyndall was not badly damaged by what looked to be a suspected missile strike on Saturday and resumed its journey following the event.
The ship landed late Saturday in the major UAE port of Jebel Ali, about six days after departing Jeddah on the Red Sea, as per vessel monitoring agencies. Iran and international powers are now negotiating a possible restoration to the 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump's administration abandoned.
The negotiations are opposed by Israel. Iran's nuclear program, backing for armed organizations in the Middle East, and missile technology development are all considered serious security concerns by its leaders, who have pledged to maintain a covert effort to stifle Tehran's goals. Days after Iran reportedly struck a cargo ship once owned by an Israeli company in apparent retaliation for an attack on an Iranian nuclear facility last month, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Sunday that Israel would act wherever and whenever necessary to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Israel will act against Iran when needed, says Defense Minister
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett allegedly called a high-level conference of defense and diplomatic officials on Sunday to discuss Iran's nuclear program and continuing discussions between Tehran and Washington to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, which Israel strongly opposes. In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump revoked the deal, slamming Iran with crippling sanctions; and a year later, Tehran followed suit, enriching considerably more uranium and too far higher purity levels than the deal authorized.
Those in attendance, which included Bennett, Gantz, and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, as well as the heads of the National Security Council, military, Israel Defense Forces, and Mossad, as well as other top officials, primarily tried to catch up on where the US-Iran discussions were at. Despite both parties claiming that progress has been achieved in the negotiations, several concerns have stopped the two nations from returning to the agreement, as per The Times of Israel.
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