Iran denies responsibility for drone attack against tanker near India
Tehran decries the US accusation of involvement in maritime incident as ‘worthless,’ says it’s an attempt to distract people from ‘the crimes of the Zionist regime’
Iran’s foreign ministry denied responsibility Monday for a drone strike that damaged a ship off the Indian coast, calling the accusations “worthless.”
On Saturday night, a Japanese-owned chemical tanker, identified as MV Chem Pluto, was attacked off the coast of India by what the US Pentagon said was a “one-way attack drone fired from Iran.”
A spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry, Nasser Kanaani, dismissed the US accusation that it had targeted the tanker, saying that Iran considers “these claims as completely rejected and worthless.”
“Such claims are aimed at projecting, distracting public attention, and covering up for the full support of the American government for the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza,” he added, referring to Israel.
The drone attack on the Japanese tanker struck its stern and caused a fire onboard, maritime private security firm Ambrey said, adding that there were no casualties among the crew, though the vessel suffered some structural damage and some water was taken onboard.
The Pentagon statement said the Chem Pluto flew under a Liberian flag and was operated by a Dutch entity. Ambrey had earlier said it was “linked” to Israel and had been on its way from Saudi Arabia to India. The ostensible link was not made clear.
As the attack occurred 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) off the coast of India, near Veraval, it was unlikely to have been carried out from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
The strike, despite its different location, appeared to be the latest maritime incident in a flurry of more than 100 drone and missile attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels focused on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital shipping lane in the Red Sea, which they say is a response to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip was triggered by the October 7 massacre in Israel in which thousands of Hamas-led terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and seized around 240 hostages.
In response, Israel launched an aerial campaign and a subsequent ground operation in the Gaza Strip, vowing to topple Hamas and end the terror group’s 16-year rule.
In the wake of the war, the Houthis declared themselves part of the “axis of resistance” of Iran’s allies and proxies targeting Israel and have said they will target any ship heading to Israel or with links to it, although a number of vessels with no apparent connection to Israel have also been targeted.
Although Tehran has insisted that the Houthis are acting independently, it has in the past provided the Yemeni group with unmanned aerial systems, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
The attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea have prompted major firms to reroute their cargo vessels around the southern tip of Africa, a much longer voyage with higher fuel costs.
To protect the global shipping lane, the US has established a naval coalition to protect the Red Sea global shipping lane.
More than 20 countries have joined the coalition since it was announced, including Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain. Both Australia and Greece joined the coalition several days after it was first formed.
However, the Biden administration has not yet reversed its decision to declassify the Houthis as a terror organization, and US officials have said Washington is still considering the move.