Ship attack: Iran warns US, UK

TEHRAN: Iran will respond promptly to any threat against its security, a foreign ministry spokesperson said yesterday, after the US, Israel and Britain blamed Tehran for an attack on an Israeli-managed tanker off the coast of Oman.

Tehran has denied any involvement in the attack on Thursday in which two crew members – a Briton and a Romanian – were killed.

The US and Britain said on Sunday they would work with their partners to respond to the attack on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned petroleum product tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.

Britain summoned the Iranian ambassador yesterday.

“Iran has no hesitation in protecting its security and national interests and will respond promptly and strongly to any possible adventure,” Iranian state television quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying.

Khatibzadeh “strongly regretted the baseless accusations made by the

British foreign secretary against Iran, which were repeated by the US secretary of state in the same context and contained contradictory, false and provocative accusations”, state TV reported.

Britain said on Sunday it was highly likely that Iran carried out the attack, using one or two drones. The US Navy, which was escorting the tanker with the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, said on Saturday that early indications “clearly pointed” to a drone attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had accused Tehran of “trying to shirk responsibility” for the attack, and called its denial “cowardly”. Israel’s foreign minister said on Sunday the incident deserved a harsh response.

However, an unnamed Iranian official told the country’s Nournews news agency earlier that Tehran considered “the threats of Western officials and the Zionist regime (Israel) to be more of a propaganda gesture”.

“And Washington and London will be directly responsible for the consequences,” the official told Nournews, which is close to Iran’s Supreme

National Security Council.

Israel has reportedly received a “green light” from Washington and London to carry out a “response” to Iran for the attack. Israel’s Kan broadcasting corporation reported on Sunday. According to the report, Israeli officials were discussing how and when to respond, with possibilities arising that an Iranian port or a military ship could be targeted.

Israel also planned to share additional intelligence with other countries in the region to “bring condemnation” on Iran. Kan noted, however, that Tel Aviv believed the deaths of the two sailors in the attack were not intentional.

Tel Aviv has garnered support from the US and Britain, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowing an “appropriate response” to the attack on the tanker.

According to Blinken, Iran allegedly used “one-way explosive UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)” in the attack.

The Israeli government had earlier alleged that they possessed evidence of Iranian involvement in the attack

Tehran dismissed the claims. “(Israel) has created insecurity, terror, and violence … these accusations about Iran’s involvement are condemned,” Khatibzadeh said.

Iran and Israel have exchanged accusations of carrying out attacks on each other’s vessels in recent months.

Opposition to Israel is a cornerstone of belief for Shia-led Iran, which backs Palestinian and Lebanese Islamist militant groups opposed to peace with the Jewish state, which Iran has refused to recognise since its 1979 revolution.

Tensions have increased between Iran and Israel since 2018, when then US president Donald Trump ditched Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.

Israel has voiced concerns about efforts by Tehran and US President Joe Biden’s administration to revive the nuclear pact, under which Iran curbed its sensitive nuclear work in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.