Today, Sunday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied Tehran's involvement in the attack on an oil tanker owned by an Israeli company off the coast of Oman, while Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett confirmed that the intelligence information available to his government indicated that Iran targeted the tanker last Thursday.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh described - in a press conference today, Sunday - the accusations leveled at Iran over targeting the Israeli ship Mercer Street as "baseless and baseless."

The Iranian spokesman said that it is not the first time that Tel Aviv has leveled accusations against Tehran, adding that Israel's presence in any region leads to destabilization of security and stability, terrorism and violence there, as he put it.

Khatibzadeh added, "Such accusations are intended by Israel to divert attention from the facts and are baseless."

According to the same spokesman, "These blame games are not new. Those responsible for this (attack) are the ones who allowed the Israeli regime to set foot in this area."

The attack killed two crew members of the ship (British and Romanian), which is operated by the Israeli company Zodiac Maritime, which was flying the Liberian flag. Bahri in the Sultanate of Oman The attack took place outside Omani territorial waters.


Israeli insistence

On the other hand, the Israeli Prime Minister - at the start of the weekly session of his government today, Sunday - blamed Iran for the attack on the oil-derivatives tanker, and added that he expected the international system "to explain to the Iranian regime the extent of the grave mistake it committed."

Bennett stressed that Israel will explain to Iran, in its own way, the gravity of the step it took in attacking the tanker, as he put it.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said the incident deserved a stern response, adding in a tweet that "Iran is not only an Israeli problem, it is a source of terrorism, destruction and instability that harms everyone... We must not remain silent in the face of Iranian terrorism, which also undermines freedom of navigation."

On the other hand, the US State Department said yesterday, Saturday, that Washington had agreed to participate in an investigation into the attack on the oil tanker, and the ministry’s spokesman, Ned Price, explained that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had a phone call with his Israeli counterpart, and they agreed “to work with the United Kingdom, Romania and partners other international organizations to investigate the facts, provide support, and consider appropriate next stages."

drone

The US Navy's Fifth Fleet had said that its explosives experts had reached preliminary findings that the attack on Mercer Street, owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofir, was carried out by a drone, and the ship was on its way from Tanzania to the UAE.

🔴 Important update 🔴


The targeted Israeli ship is an oil tanker named MT MERCER STREET flying the flag of Liberia, which was on its way from Dar es Salaam to Fujairah, so


it has been confirmed that 2 crew members of different nationalities have been killed pic.twitter.com/k7pHWudNXI

— 🦅 @_𝗙𝗔𝗟𝗖𝗢𝗡_𝟬𝟭🇴🇲 Al-Shaheen (@_FALCON_01) July 30, 2021

Reuters reported that US and European sources familiar with intelligence reports said that Iran was the main suspect in the incident, but a US Defense Department official stressed that Washington was looking for conclusive evidence.

No party claimed the attack, but the London-based company, Dryad Global, which specializes in maritime security, spoke of "new reprisals in the war that is taking place in secret between the two hostile powers," referring to Iran and Israel.

The Arabian Sea - where the tanker attack occurred - is located between Iran and the Sultanate of Oman at the exit of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a large part of the world's oil passes and where a US-led coalition operates.

Iran and Israel have accused each other of attacking each other's ships in recent months, as tensions have risen in the Gulf region since the United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal signed between Iran and major powers in 2015.