The reported incident comes amid a growing list of back-and-forth accusations by Iran and Israel of attacks on one another’s vessels throughout the Middle East.
An Iranian ship ‘affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard’ has been attacked in the Red Sea, sources told Saudi-owned, Dubai-based television news channel Al Arabiya on Tuesday.
The merchant ship, which US, Israeli and Saudi officials and media have previously claimed may be a covert Revolutionary Guard forward base or intelligence-gathering vessel, was reportedly struck by a missile near Yemen.
Iran’s semi-official Mehrs News Agency reported on the alleged incident pointing to “unconfirmed” reports citing “a Zionist source.”
Marine Traffic lists the general cargo ship as “out of range,” with its current position shown to be in the southern Red Sea, approximately equidistant to Eritrea and Yemen, and its last check-in reported at 11:59 UTC.
Some Arab media say that ship may have suffered “great damage.” Scattered reports coming out of Israel claim that the missile which hit the ship may have been Israeli. Neither country has commented on the incident.
The Saviz was built in 1999. It has reportedly been moored off the Red Sea archipelago of Dahlak since as far back as 2016. Iranian media describe the ship as a trade vessel, and
