Relations are strained between Israel and Iran.
Hebrew state accuses its sworn enemy of being behind the attack on an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea that killed two crew members, according to its owner Zodiac Maritime, owned by an Israeli billionaire .
"Iran is sowing violence and destruction in all corners of the region," an Israeli government official said in a statement, adding that, "wanting to target Israel", Tehran had "blamed itself by killing foreign civilians ".
"Iran is not only Israel's problem, it is a global problem, and its behavior endangers the freedom of navigation and trade in the world," he added.
Israeli boats already targeted in this area
Security experts have also raised the hypothesis of an Iranian origin in this attack, which took place in a strategic area where Israeli boats have already been targeted.
The US military said in a statement that US Navy forces, responding to a distress call, came to the aid of the crew and were able to see evidence of an attack.
The first findings "clearly indicate" a drone-type attack, continues the army, specifying that US Navy ships escorted the tanker, with US personnel on board.
Earlier on Friday, Zodiac Maritime, an international company headquartered in London, announced on Twitter "the death of two crew members: a Romanian national and a British national" in an incident aboard the M / T Mercer Street.
It is now sailing "under the control of its crew to a place of safety, with an American naval escort," the firm, which belongs to Israeli billionaire and businessman Eyal Ofer, added later.
In the United States, ally of Israel and enemy of Iran, the administration of Joe Biden has remained cautious.
"We are monitoring the situation closely," said State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter.
"We are cooperating with our foreign partners to establish the facts.
According to the UKMTO maritime operations site, a counter-piracy agency under the British Navy, the attack was reported Thursday at 6 p.m. GMT, while it was underway, about 152 nautical miles (280 kilometers ) from the coasts of Oman.
An official from the Oman Maritime Security Center said on Friday that the center had received information about an "incident outside the territorial waters" of the sultanate and sent a ship and military planes to fly over the area.
The British national who died in the attack worked for the security company Ambrey, which confirmed via its spokesperson the "tragic" death of its employee in a "security incident".
A spokesperson for the UK Ministry of Defense said its headquarters in the region were currently investigating.
At the time of the incident, the tanker was sailing without cargo from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Fujairah, a coastal city in the United Arab Emirates, according to the owner, who operates the Japanese vessel.
The Arabian Sea is located between Iran and Oman, at the exit of the strategic Strait of Hormuz through which passes a large part of the world's oil and where a coalition led by the United States operates.
Shipping in the area was the target of frequent piracy a decade ago, but incidents have declined markedly in recent years after increased patrols by maritime forces from several countries.
"Significant escalation"
Analysts have linked the attack to earlier incidents.
Two ships operated by the Israeli company Ray Shipping were attacked earlier this year.
Meir Javedanfar, a security expert at Israeli University IDC Herzliya, said Iran was "very likely" behind the attack.
According to him, the Iranians "feel at a disadvantage when it comes to responding to attacks in Iran and associated with Israel", including the April 11 explosion at the Natanz nuclear complex, blamed by Tehran on the state Hebrew.
"The attack on MT Mercer Street is now considered the fifth attack on a ship connected to Israel," said analysts at Dryad Global, a London-based maritime security company, citing further "retaliation in the war of the shadow of the two "enemy" powers.
In Iran, the Arabic-language state television channel quoted "informed sources in the region" that the attack was a response to a "recent Israeli attack" in Syria, without giving further details.
The deaths of two crewmembers, however, represent "a significant escalation of events," Dryad Global ruled, advising clients that the risk to commercial vessels associated with Israel and Iran in the Gulf Waterway was now "increased".
With AFP
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