The United Kingdom joined Israel on Sunday in accusing Iran of being behind the targeting of an Israeli oil tanker with a drone in the Indian Ocean as it was en route from Tanzania to the United Arab Emirates.
“It is highly likely that Iran attacked the tanker with one or more drones,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement.
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“We believe this attack was premeditated, intentional and a flagrant violation of international law by Iran,” Raab added.
“Iran must stop such attacks, and ships must be allowed to move freely by international law,” he stressed.
The British minister described the attack, which killed two crew members of the M/T Mercer Street, as “unlawful and cruel”.
“His country and its allies planned a coordinated response to the strike on the oil tanker on Thursday,” he added.
In turn, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in his remarks during a cabinet meeting on Sunday, “We know how to deliver the message to Iran in our way.”
Bennett offered his condolences to both the United Kingdom and Romania for the killing of their citizens, stressing that “Israeli intelligence has evidence linking Iran to the attack,” but he did not provide it.
And on Saturday, the US Navy announced that its explosives experts had found evidence that the attack on the ship was carried out by a drone.
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The Associated Press quoted an unnamed US official as saying that the drone attack “created a hole in the upper part of the bridge of the oil tanker, where the captain and crew of the ship are.”
While no party has claimed responsibility for the attack, Iran and allied militias have used “suicide” drones in previous attacks.
However, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the US Navy have yet to provide physical evidence from the attack or intelligence as to why they blamed Tehran.
For his part, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh described earlier the allegations against his country as “baseless.”
He added: “This is not the first time that the Zionist regime, which occupies Jerusalem, has made such empty accusations against Iran.”
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On Friday, Zodiac Maritime, owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer, announced the targeting of the Mercure Street ship on Thursday in the Indian Ocean.
This led to the killing of two of its crew: a Romanian citizen and a British citizen.
It is noteworthy that the past months have witnessed many similar incidents, which Israeli media said come in the context of the Israeli-Iranian conflict.
