Israel says Iran launched a number of drones toward it that will take hours to arrive
a suspected Israeli strike this month on an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed 12 people, including a senior Guard general. Iran has promised to retaliate, and U.S. President Joe Biden cut short a weekend trip to his beach house in Delaware to return to the White House and monitor the situation.
Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip has inflamed decade-old tensions in the Middle East, and any new attack threatens to escalate that conflict into a wider regional war. Iran's state-run IRNA said a special forces unit of the Guard's navy carried out the attack on the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime. Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group.
Zodiac declined to comment and referred questions to MSC. Geneva-based MSC acknowledged the seizure and said 25 crew members were on the ship. “We are working closely with the relevant authorities to ensure their wellbeing, and safe return of the vessel," MSC said.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the crew was made up of Indian, Filipino, Pakistani, Russian and Estonian nationals and urged Iran to release them and the vessel. IRNA said the Guard would take the vessel into Iranian territorial waters. A Middle East defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, provided video of the attack to The Associated Press in which Iranian commandos are seen rappelling onto a stack of containers on the vessel's deck.
Read more on livemint.com
