Dubai (AFP) – Iranian forces targeted three container ships on Wednesday, seizing two, global security monitors and the country’s Revolutionary Guards said, the latest incidents to threaten a crucial trade route in the Middle East war. British maritime security agency UKMTO said an Iranian gunboat fired at a container ship off the coast of Oman on Wednesday, while a ship off Iran was also fired upon.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said separately that their naval forces stopped two ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz and directed them to Iranian waters. It accused them of breaching its blockade of the route, imposed in the Middle East war that erupted on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran. “The master of a container ship reported that the vessel was approached by one IRGC gunboat…that then fired upon the vessel, which has caused heavy damage to the bridge. No fires or environmental impact reported,” the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) said. It added that the incident took place 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman and all the crew were safe. According to British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech, the vessel was sailing under a Liberian flag and “had been informed it had permission to transit the Strait of Hormuz”. Iranian news agency Tasnim said the ship had “ignored warnings from Iran’s armed forces”.
– Call for crews’ release – The IGRC said its naval force “this morning identified and stopped in the Strait of Hormuz two violating ships”. In a statement, it said the vessels “were seized by the IRGC’s naval forces and directed to the Iranian coast”. The IRGC named the two ships seized as the MSC-Francesca and the Epaminondas, Iranian broadcaster IRIB said on Telegram. It alleged that the Francesca was linked to Israel while the Epaminondas lacked “the necessary permits” and had been “tampering with navigation systems”. Ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic showed the two vessels — both container ships — stopped near the Iranian coast on Wednesday. The head of the UN’s International Maritime Organization condemned the attacks and seizures as “unacceptable”. “I once again call for these reckless actions to cease and for any ships and innocent seafarers to be released immediately,” the body’s Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez wrote on X.
– Cargo ship fired on – In a separate incident, a cargo ship eight nautical miles west of Iran was fired upon and “stopped in the water”, UKMTO said, adding there was no reported damage to the vessel. Vanguard identified it as the Panama-flagged container ship Euphoria, which it said was “transiting outbound of the Strait of Hormuz”. Iranian media also reported the ship had been targeted. MarineTraffic later showed the Euphoria had left the strait and was headed to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. It said the Epaminondas and Francesca were operated by Swiss-based shipping company MSC. The company did not respond to an emailed request for comment. The Epaminondas was deployed on a shipping line connecting India and the US East Coast, with intermediate calls in the United Arab Emirates. The Francesca was operating on a route linking India, the Gulf and the Mediterranean, MarineTraffic added. The ships “had both been stuck in the Persian Gulf since the start of the conflict,” the platform said on X.
Shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz has been heavily restricted by Iran since the start of the war with Israel and the United States, while the US military is enforcing a counter-blockade of Iranian ports. US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the truce with Iran would be extended after it first took effect on April 8.
© 2024 AFP
