An oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire reportedly came under attack off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea, authorities said Friday, as details about the incident remained few.
The attack Thursday night targeted Liberian-flagged oil tanker Mercer Street just northeast of the Omani island of Masirah. The location is over 300 kilometers (185 miles) southeast of Oman’s capital, Muscat.
Israeli officials did not immediately acknowledge the attack. Other Israel-linked ships have been targeted in recent months as well amid a shadow war between the two nations, with Israeli officials blaming the Islamic Republic for the assaults.
An brief initial statement from the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said an investigation was underway into the incident, which it described as happening late Thursday night.
The statement did not elaborate, other to say that it suspected the attack did not involve piracy.
London-based Zodiac Maritime, part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Group, issued a statement saying the ship was the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Mercer Street and was Japanese owned. The British Defense Ministry earlier misidentified the ship's owners. They described the attack as “piracy,” without elaborating.
Oman did not acknowledge an attack and officials there did not respond to requests for comment. The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the Mideast, did not respond to a request for comment.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions over Iran's tattered nuclear deal and as negotiations over restoring the accord have stalled in Vienna. Since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, there have been a series of ship attacks in the region suspected to have been carried out by Tehran.
Iranian media quoted foreign reports on the attack, but did not elaborate.
Reporting by AP
Iran's Currency Hits Low Point As Nuclear Talks Remain In Limbo
Iran’s currency the rial dropped to its lowest point since October 2020, by crossing the 280,000-rial mark against the US dollar on Tuesday, as hopes for a breakthrough in nuclear talks with world powers faded.
Currency exchange websites said that the reason for the 1.4 percent decline in one day was a negative comment by UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday, which said Iran has not fully honored a deal made on September 12.
Iran’s battered currency that has declined ninefold since 2017 is sensitive to news about the dispute Iran has over its nuclear program with the United States and its European allies.
The rial began to nosedive at the end of 2017 when former US president Donald Trump signaled his intention to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal, the JCPOA. After formal withdrawal in May 2018, the United States imposed heavy economic sanctions, gradually banning Iranian crude oil exports.
With Joe Biden assuming the presidency, a round of talks began in Vienna to restore the JCPOA, but Tehran has suspended the negotiations with no clear date of when it would return.
Iran’s currency has steadily fallen since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979, dropping from 70 rials during the last years of the monarchy to the current 280,000 rials to the dollar.
Iran Must Return To Talks To Avoid Escalation, Says French Official
Iran must return to talks with world powers over its 2015 nuclear deal to avoid an escalation, a French presidency official was quoted by Reuters as saying on Tuesday, adding that there was no need to set new conditions because the parameters for an accord were clear.
The official told reporters that world powers negotiating with Iran needed to remain united and that China especially needed to "express itself and act in a more determined way."
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the UN General Assembly on Monday that the international community must make sure Iran reaches an agreement with world powers on its nuclear program.
“Iran cannot be allowed to think any longer that time is on its side because the more dangerous its nuclear program becomes, the greater the risk of a major crisis,” Le Drian told the Assembly.
Iran in June suspended negotiations with world powers taking place in Vienna since April, saying its new president elected that month needed time ot form a government.
The United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany that were the original signatories of the 2015 nuclear agreement, JCPOA, have become apprehensive as Tehran continues to enrich uranium without resuming the talks.
Iran Rejects US Call For UN Inspectors' Access To Nuclear Site
Iran on Tuesday rejected a US call to grant UN inspectors access to a nuclear site, saying Washington was not qualified to demand inspections without condemning a sabotage attack on the facility, Iranian state media reported.
"Countries that did not condemn terrorist acts against Iran's nuclear site are not qualified to comment on inspections there," Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said during a visit to Moscow, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA.
The United States said on Monday that Iran must stop denying the U.N. nuclear watchdog access to a workshop making centrifuge parts as agreed two weeks ago or face diplomatic retaliation at the agency's Board of Governors meeting.
The workshop at the TESA Karaj complex makes components for centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, and was hit by apparent sabotage in June in which one of four International Atomic Energy Agency cameras there was destroyed. Iran removed them and the destroyed camera's footage is missing.
Key Iranian nuclear, military and industrial sites have been targets of sabotage operations since July 2020, with two explosions at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility and toher incidents. Iran's top nuclear official Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in November 2020 in what a high-tech operation reportedly by Israel.
Reporting by Reuters
Iran Nuclear Chief In Moscow To Hold Talks On Cooperation
Iran's vice president and head of the country's atomic energy organization, Mohammad Eslami, has arrived in Moscow for talks with the chief executive of Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom, the RIA news agency cited Iran's embassy as saying on Tuesday.
Eslami plans to discuss cooperation between the two countries in the nuclear power sector, it said. Russia is a diplomatic ally of the Islamic Republic and a military ally in Syria.
Russia built Iran's only nuclear reactor in Bushehr after the 1979 revolution that prevented Western firms to complete the project started during the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah, the last king of Iran. Tehran has started construction of at least one other reactor at the same location.
It is not clear if Eslami will also hold discussions with Russian officials on the stalled nuclear talks with the United States and its European allies in Vienna.
Tehran stopped the talks in June saying its new president, Ebrahim Raisi, needed time to form a government, but after more than a month of forming a cabinet, Tehran has not announced a date for its return to the talks.
France Calls On International Community To Stand Firm On Iran Nukes
The international community must make sure Iran reaches an agreement with world powers on its nuclear program, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the UN General Assembly on Monday.
“Iran cannot be allowed to think any longer that time is on its side because the more dangerous its nuclear program becomes, the greater the risk of a major crisis,” Le Drian told the Assembly.
Iran in June suspended negotiations with world powers taking place in Vienna since April, saying its new president elected that month needed time to form a government.
The United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany that were the original signatories of the 2015 nuclear agreement, JCPOA, have become apprehensive as Tehran continues to enrich uranium without resuming the talks.
“France will do everything it possibly can to encourage dialogue, but the only possible way forward remains an agreement, making it possible to establish that Iran is once again upholding its obligations. It is therefore essential that negotiations resume very quickly,” the French foreign minister said.
Israel has said it cannot accept the risk of a nuclear Iran and will do anything needed to stop Tehran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.
