“Ready to respond”: Israel puts its army on high alert after Iran seizes ship

Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy forces have seized a container ship “linked” to Israel in the Persian Gulf, state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that a special forces unit from the Guard’s naval forces carried out the attack on the vessel, which other media in the country widely identified as the Portuguese-flagged container ship MSC Aries, linked to London-based Zodiac Maritime.

Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Zodiac declined to comment.

The Portuguese-flagged vessel is currently heading to Iranian territorial waters, the agency added.

Video released by The Associated Press shows commandos raiding a suspected vessel near the Strait of Hormuz by helicopter.

In the footage, special forces are lowering down ropes onto a stack of containers installed on the deck of the ship.

One of the crew members on the ship can be heard saying, “Don’t get off.” The captain’s mate then orders his colleagues to the ship’s bridge as more commandos descend on deck. One of them is seen kneeling over the others to provide them with potential cover fire.

While the AP could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the video, it matches known details of the landing, and the helicopter involved appears to have been used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, which has carried out other raids against ships in the past.

The footage matches known details about MSC Aries. The helicopter used also turned out to be a Soviet-era Mi-17, which has been used in the past by both the National Guard and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to conduct sabotage raids on ships.

The MSC Aries was last spotted off the coast of Dubai on Friday as it was heading into the Strait of Hormuz. The ship had its tracking data turned off, which was common for Israeli-owned ships passing through the region, Al Arabiya noted.

The UK’s Maritime Trade Command said the ship was “seized by regional authorities” in the Gulf of Oman near the Emirati port city of Fujairah, without elaborating.

The Gulf of Oman is close to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s oil trade passes. Fujairah, on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, is the region’s main port through which ships take on new oil cargoes, pick up supplies or change crews.

Since 2019, there have been a series of explosions and hijackings in the waters off Fujairah. The US Navy has accused Iran of blowing up ships with mines that damaged tankers.

The latest incident comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the West, especially following an alleged Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria. The attack killed 12 people, including a senior IRGC general who once commanded the Quds Force.

According to British military analyst Michael Clarke, it is the largest ship to be captured or attacked so far. At least 20 crew members aboard the MSC Aries were taken hostage, he said. The UK and US have a lot of naval forces in the capture area, and so Iran is actually threatening to increase tensions, the professor explained: “This is an important point. It’s 1,000 miles from the Gulf of Aden and what the Houthis were doing in the southern Red Sea.”

The expert recalled the Galaxy Leader, which was captured by the Yemeni Houthis using the same methods: “The important thing is that this is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran. This is not some gang of pirates or even the Houthis.”

The vessel was in close proximity to the shipping line and was a “direct target,” Clark said. “When they say it was in Iranian waters, that’s bullshit. It was carefully selected, the analyst says, pointing to his connections to Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer. “The Iranians are behaving very provocatively.”

Sky News international correspondent Alex Rossi said the seizure “raises tensions” between Iran and Israel. It is difficult to say whether this is what Iran threatened Israel with after the attack on its consulate in Syria.

Iranian state media said the ship’s location near the Strait of Hormuz poses a threat to Iran’s security. People in Israel are still expecting something more, Rossi said. “It certainly increases tensions. But of course people here are waiting for the answer that the Iranians have promised.”

It appears that the response “may be calculated to such an extent that it does not reach the level of war.”

However, Rossi said he believed it was “probably the most serious moment in the Middle East since the Yom Kippur War of 1973.”

An Israeli military spokesman responded to Tehran’s statement about the seizure of a ship “associated with Israel.” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagar said: “Iran will bear responsibility for further escalation of the situation. Israel is on high alert. We have increased our readiness to defend Israel from further Iranian aggression. We are also ready to respond.”