West Asia On
war in Gaza is now 6 months old and is inflaming decades-old tensions across the whole region.
Iran’s state-run IRNA said the Sepah Special Naval Forces unit of the IRGC carried out the attack on the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship associated with Londonbased Zodiac Maritime.
Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Earlier, a Middle East defence official shared a video of the attack. In it, the commandos are seen rappelling down onto a stack of containers sitting on the deck of the vessel.
A crew member on the ship can be heard saying: “Don’t come out.” He then tells his colleagues to go to the ship’s bridge as more commandos come down on the deck. One commando can be seen kneeling above the others to provide them potential cover fire.
The video corresponded known details of the MSC Aries.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations described the vessel as being “seized by regional authorities” in the Gulf of Oman off the Emirati port city of Fujairah.
The MSC Aries had been last located off Dubai heading toward the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. The ship had turned off its tracking data, which has been common for Israeli-affiliated ships moving through the region.
On Tuesday the naval head of the IRGC, Alireza Tangsiri, said it could close the Strait of Hormuz if deemed necessary. He said Iran viewed as a threat Israel’s presence in the UAE, with which Israel established diplomatic relations in 2020 as part of the “Abraham Accords” mediated by the United States.
The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all globally traded oil passes.
Another of the strategic sea route of the Red Sea has been virtually blocked by Yemen’s Iran-backed Ansarallah led forces. Ansarallah says they only target vessels linked to Israel in retaliation for Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Biden: We’ll Defend Israel
While speaking to reporters on Friday, Biden emphasised Washington’s commitment to protecting Israel and sent a simple message to Iran–“Don’t”.
“We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. with own risk. We don’t know what will happen,” the student who studies in Isfahan told Kashmir Observer.
A worried parent, Shakil Ahmad whose daughter studies in Iran referred to Kashmiri students who had to abandon their universities in Ukraine after war broke out there two years back saying he fears what will happen if war prolongs and results in closure of airports. However he hastened to add that his daughter told him in her recent phone call that “Iran is not Ukraine and there is absolutely no panic among the people there”. “I also believe”, he added, that “Iran can, as it has in the past, handled crisis situations with maturity and sagacity”, he said.
Meanwhile, sources said that the Indian embassy in Tehran is in the process of establishing contacts with the Indian students and is collecting data of the students across Iran.
In a turn of events which could further aggravate the crisis, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, the Iranian state-run IRNA news agency reported, days after Tehran warned it could close the area to sea traffic.
Pahalgam recorded a low of 3.2°C against 1.2°C on the previous night and it was 0.4°C above normal for the famous resort in south Kashmir.
Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, recorded a minimum of 7.7°C against 4.8°C on the previous night and it was 7.7°C above normal, the official said.
Kupwara town recorded a low of 9.0°C against 5.8°C on the previous night and it was 2.7°C above normal there, the official said.
Gulmarg recorded a low of 2.6°C against 0.5°C on the previous night and it was above normal by 1.1°C for the famous skiing resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Jammu, he said, recorded a minimum of 20.5°C and it was above normal by 1.3°C for the winter capital of J&K.
Banihal recorded a low of 9.8°C, Batote 12.5°C and Bhaderwah 9.0°C, he said.
17 Indians Onboard