Israeli ship comes under attack off UAE coast: Media reports

Data available on MarineTraffic.com showed that the Hyperion, sailing under the flag of the Bahamas, was stopped near the Emirati port of Fujairah on Tuesday.

Israel’s Channel 12 cited “security” sources as claiming that Hyperion was hit by “an Iranian missile,” saying the vessel had sustained light damage.

There is no report about any casualties among the crewmembers.

The vessel is associated with the Israeli Ray Shipping company, the same company that owns a vessel hit by an explosion in the Sea of Oman in February.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the reports.

The attack came days after an act of sabotage targeted the electricity distribution network of Iran’s Shahid Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan nuclear facility in Natanz, which is a uranium enrichment center located in the city of the same name in Iran’s central province of Isfahan.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, “The appalling incident that took place in Natanz was the work of the Zionist regime (Israel), given what it was repeatedly saying before and what is still being heard from various sources these days.”

On February 25, an explosion struck Israeli-owned and the Bahamas-flagged ship, the MV Helios Ray, in the Sea of Oman near the strategic mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hastily accused Iran of attacking the ship. Iran categorically rejected the charge.

Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi, in a letter addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on March 5, warned of consequences of any possible miscalculated measure by Israel over the explosion.

“The incident has all the characteristic of a complicated false flag operation carried out by actors in order to pursue their malign policies and to advance their illegitimate objectives,” Takht Ravanchi wrote.

Following the alleged attack on Hyperion, Haaretz daily newspaper said Israeli officials had warned against the consequences of Tel Aviv’s moves to hit Iranian targets.

The paper said if Israel really did seek ‘revenge’ by attacking Iranian targets, then it has changed the unwritten rules of the unacknowledged game, which could have grave consequences.

It believes that the Tel Aviv regime, led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, is "playing with fire."

Iran said earlier this month that one of its merchant vessels has been targeted by an explosion of unknown origin in the strategic Red Sea, in the second such incident in less than a month.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters the Saviz ship was struck by the blast on April 5 near the coast of Djibouti, and sustained minor damage.

In a similar incident last month, an Iranian cargo ship was damaged after it was targeted by a terrorist attack en route to Europe in the Mediterranean Sea.