A commercial vessel owned by an Israeli firm was attacked near Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates, two pro-Iran media outlets based in Lebanon said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Israel’s top-rated television news quoted unnamed Israeli officials as blaming Iran for an assault on an Israeli-owned ship off the UAE coast and said there were no casualties.
An Israeli Transportation Ministry spokesman said he was aware of the reports but that he could not confirm them. There was no immediate confirmation from the UAE.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), however, said on Tuesday it was aware of a possible incident which occurred off the coast of Fujairah, part of the United Arab Emirates.
In an advisory notice UKTMO – which is part of Britain’s Royal Navy – said investigations were ongoing and advised mariners to exercise extreme caution in the area.
The incident comes a day after Iran accused arch-foe Israel of sabotaging a key nuclear site.
The Lebanon-based Unews news agency, which has previously reported news of attacks on vessels in Gulf waters, said the vessel was transporting cars and had been at Kuwait’s Mina Al Ahmadi port 48 hours earlier.
Al Mayadeen television channel, also citing sources, identified the vessel as Hyperion.
Refinitiv ship tracking data showed the Bahamas-flagged vehicle carrier HYPERION RAY was headed to Fujairah port from Kuwait.
Last month an Iranian container ship was damaged in an attack in the Mediterranean, two weeks after an Israeli-owned ship the MV HELIOS RAY – owned by the same company as the Hyperion Ray according to a U.N. shipping database – was hit by an explosion in the Gulf of Oman.
REUTERS