Iranian missile hit Israeli-owned ship in Arabian Sea

An Iranian missile struck an Israeli ship sailing from Tanzania to India, Israel’s Channel 12 said, without saying where it got the information or how Iran was implicated.

The cargo ship was damaged but continued to its destination, the station said. There was no comment from Israel’s army spokesman, and the owner of the Israeli ship didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. There was also no immediate response to the report from Iran, where a public holiday is being celebrated.

This is the fourth time in about a month that the bitter enemies have traded allegations of attacks at sea.

Earlier this month, Iran said Israel was likely behind an explosion that damaged an Iranian container ship in the Mediterranean, and Israel’s environmental minister alleged that an Iranian ship deliberately dumped oil in Israeli waters. An Israeli maritime intelligence company, Windward, later said the crude spill likely originated from sanctions-busting oil trade between Iran and Syria.

In February, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was responsible for an unexplained blast on an Israeli-owned cargo vessel in the Persian Gulf.

The Israeli Haaretz daily reported last week that Israel has hit several dozen Iranian oil tankers in recent weeks, causing Iran cumulative damage of billions of dollars.

The flaring maritime tensions coincide with U.S. President Joe Biden’s efforts to rejoin the 2015 international agreement under which Iran limited its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. His predecessor, Donald Trump, pulled the U.S. out of the accord in mid-2018 and tightened sanctions. Tehran says those must end before a new round of talks can begin.