Dubai: An attack on a tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime off the coast of Oman killed two crew members, a Briton and one Romanian, the company said Friday.
On its website, Zodiac said the attack on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged Japanese vessel, was still under investigation.
According to Israel’s Channel 13 TV, an anonymous senior Israeli official blamed Iran for the attack, without providing any evidence.
‘Details of the incident are still being established and an investigation into the incident is currently underway. We continue to work closely with the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and other relevant authorities,’ said Zodiac, which is owned by the wealthy Israeli Ofer family.
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The company said it was unaware of harm to any other crew members other than the British and Romanian crew members who died. At the time of the attack, the vessel was about 152 nautical miles (280 km) northeast of the Omani port of Duqm.
The UKMTO advised they had been informed that regional search and rescue authorities and coalition forces had been tasked with assisting the vessel.
As reported by Refinitiv ship tracking, the Mercer Street was traveling from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Fujairah, an oil terminal and bunkering port in the United Arab Emirates.
The Gulf region has been tense since the United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018, after then-President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers. Several attacks on shipping in strategic Gulf waters have been attributed to Iran by Washington.
Iran and Israel have both accused each other of attacking one another’s vessels in recent months.
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