Iranian forces seized a container ship with links to Israel in the Persian Gulf on Saturday, as leaders in the Middle East and beyond watched for retaliation by Iran against Israel.
MSC, a major shipping company, said on Saturday that the MSC Aries, which is registered in Portugal, was boarded by “Iranian authorities” via helicopter as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
A video shared by Iran’s state media showed a military helicopter hovering over what appeared to be the ship’s stern, with at least two soldiers being lowered by a rope to the deck.
The soldiers were part of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, according to IRNA, the state news agency.
A spokeswoman for the US National Security Council, Adrienne Watson, called on Iran to immediately release the ship and its crew.
“The unprovoked seizure of a civilian vessel is a flagrant violation of international law and an act of piracy by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” it said in a statement. “It must be condemned in the strongest possible terms, and we will work with our partners to hold Iran accountable for its actions.”
Although operated by MSC, the 1,200-foot cargo ship is owned by Zodiac Maritime, a subsidiary of Zodiac Group, owned by Israeli-born billionaire Eyal Ofer, making it a potential target for Iranian retaliation. Tehran has vowed to retaliate after it blamed Israel for an attack on an Iranian embassy in Syria that killed 12 people, including top military generals.
Israel Katz, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, confirmed the seizure on social media and said Iran’s leadership was “a criminal regime that supports the crimes of Hamas and is now conducting a piracy operation in violation of international law.”
Six months after the Hamas attack on Israel that started the Gaza war, the takeover comes amid fears of a wider conflict directly involving Iran. Iran is a backer of Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, but so far has not been directly involved. On Friday, President Biden said he expects Iran to launch a retaliatory attack “sooner rather than later” and reiterated that the United States remains committed to Israel’s defense.
It was not immediately clear whether the seizure of the ship was part of Iran’s promised response to the attack on Syria, but it was not the first time Iran has directly seized a commercial vessel. In January, Iran’s navy seized a tanker loaded with oil off the coast of Oman. In that occupation, soldiers also descended from a hovering helicopter.
Before the Gaza war, the United States said Iran had “harassed, attacked or interfered” with more than a dozen internationally-flagged merchant ships in recent years.
For their part, the Houthis have disrupted much of the world’s shipping by attacking dozens of ships heading to or from the Suez Canal.
MSC Aries had 25 crew members, according to its operator.
