Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Video seen by the Associated Press shows commandos attacking a ship near the Strait of Hormuz by helicopter on Saturday, an attack that a Middle East defense official blamed on Iran amid broader tensions between Tehran and the West.
The video showed the attack previously reported by the British military’s UK Maritime Commerce Operations. No details were provided about the shipment in the Gulf of Oman, near the Emirati port city of Fujairah.
The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, shared the video with the AP. In it, the commandos rappelled down onto a pile of containers on the ship’s deck.
A member of the ship’s crew could be heard saying: “Don’t leave.” The crewmate then tells his colleagues to head to the bridge of the ship as more commandos descend to the deck. to provide them with covering fire potential.
Although the AP was unable to immediately verify the video, it matched known details of the boarding and the helicopter involved appeared to be used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which has carried out other attacks on ships in the past.
The ship involved is probably the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship associated with Zodiac Maritime, based in London. Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Neither MSC nor Zodiac immediately responded to a request for comment.
The MSC Aries was last spotted near Dubai heading towards the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. The ship turned off its tracking data, which is common on Israeli-affiliated ships moving through the region.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the West, especially following an alleged Israeli attack on the Iranian Consulate in Syria.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the seizure of any ship, nor was there any state media reporting on the incident. However, since 2019, Iran has been involved in a series of ship seizures and has had attacks on ships blamed on it, amid ongoing tensions with the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.
The Gulf of Oman is close to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil passes. Fujairah, on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, is the region’s main port for ships to embark new oil cargoes, pick up supplies or change crew.
Since 2019, the waters off Fujairah have seen a series of explosions and kidnappings. The US Navy has blamed Iran for limpet mine attacks on ships that damaged oil tankers.
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