Israel Pushes for U.N. Action against Iran over Deadly Ship Attack
Israel's foreign minister said he has ordered the nation's diplomats to push for U.N. action against Iran over a deadly attack on a ship managed by an Israeli billionaire.
The MT Mercer Street tanker was attacked in the northern Indian Ocean on Thursday, killing two crew members, in what the United States said appeared to be a drone strike.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, but maritime industry analysts Dryad Global said "this latest attack has the hallmarks of the ongoing Israel/Iran 'shadow war.'"
"I've instructed the embassies in Washington, London and the U.N. to work with their interlocutors in government and the relevant delegations in the U.N. headquarters in New York," Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Friday on Twitter.
"Iran is not just an Israeli problem, but an exporter of terrorism, destruction and instability that are hurting us all.
"We must never remain silent in the face of Iranian terrorism, which also harms freedom of navigation," the top diplomat added.
Lapid said he had also spoken to his British counterpart Dominic Raab, and mentioned "the need to respond severely to the attack on the ship in which a British citizen was killed".
The Mercer Street, an oil products tanker, was travelling from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates with no cargo aboard when it was struck, its Israeli operator said.
Zodiac Maritime, a London-based operator owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer, said the attack killed a Romanian and a British citizen.
The U.S. military said that early indications "clearly point" to a drone strike on the Mercer Street, a Japanese-owned tanker flying a Liberian flag.
Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam state TV channel, citing "informed regional sources", said the attack was a "response to a recent Israeli attack" targeting an airport in central Syria where Iran is backing the regime.
Zodiac Maritime said a U.S. naval escort was protecting the damaged ship as it steamed to "a safe location."
The strike on the tanker comes as European powers meet with Iran in an effort to shore up a 2015 agreement to curtail the Islamic republic's nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions.
The accord was strained when in 2018 former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. unilaterally and reimposed sanctions.
Negotiations in Vienna, where the U.S. is indirectly taking part, have stalled ahead of the August inauguration of newly elected ultra-conservative Iranian president Ebrahim Raissi.
31 July 2021, 11:50
50
its okay for Fascist state of Israel to attack civilian site, and military sites. but if any retaliations against the fascist state is Antisemitic
31 July 2021, 15:12
11
It's about time you grew up and stopped spouting out your stupid remarks. If you had the ability to read the article you would have learned that it was British and Rumanian people who were killed, not Israelis as you would have wished.
01 August 2021, 12:04
00
true Israeli stooge never miss a opportunity for name calling with no deviance to back your false claims
31 July 2021, 14:20
03
The Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam state TV channel themselves claim that this was a "response to a recent Israeli attack" targeting an (military) airport in central Syria. An attack that appears to have killed Hezbollah commander Imad al-Amin as well as Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) leader Ahmed Qureshi. So these targets hardly classifies as civilian targets, whereas a Romanian and a British seafarer certainly does.
01 August 2021, 07:21
00
The UN wouldn't do anything worthwhile. The only avenue forward is through retaliatory action, which should start with annihilating this cancer in Lebanon called Huzbullah, and then deleting Iran from Syria, and with that, Iran would shrink to its normal size in Iran. Good riddance indeed.
03 August 2021, 02:50
00
unfortunately the UN is not capable of doing anything just yet
