Under the title "Incident More Serious than 'Mercer Street': Ship Tracking Site Involves Iran," the Al Arabiya website reported that despite the widespread international attention received by the attack on the "Mercer Street" ship that occurred weeks ago, the specialized oil ship tracking site "Tanker Trackers" revealed a more serious secret. The site tweeted on Wednesday about an incident it deemed more serious than the "Mercer Street" event, which had captured global attention, but which happened earlier and did not receive sufficient media coverage.
The tweets explained that a tanker named WINSIME was hijacked off the coast of Oman prior to the attack on "Mercer Street." The hijacked tanker reappeared two days after its abduction in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, about a month ago. The site also included a photo of the mentioned ship, confirming that the incident is much more serious than the attack on the "Mercer Street," yet it did not garner attention.
It is noteworthy that this announcement came a month after the attack on the "Mercer Street" ship, which is managed by an Israeli company, and executed using a drone, resulting in the deaths of two crew members.
While Tehran completely denied responsibility for the attack and the spokesperson for its foreign ministry condemned the accusations made by Israel as baseless, Tel Aviv confirmed that it possesses intelligence evidence proving Tehran's involvement.
Israeli Confirmation
Last week, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett revealed that Iran is attempting cowardly to evade responsibility for targeting the ship. He clarified that Iran attacked the ship with drones, intending to hit an Israeli target, but the incident resulted in the deaths of a British citizen and a Romanian. He noted that the attack serves as a reminder to the world of "Iranian aggression," according to an American website. He also stressed that such operations pose a threat not only to Israel but also affect international interests and freedom of maritime navigation.
Mutual Accusations
It is worth mentioning that Israel and Iran have publicly exchanged accusations over the past months regarding the targeting of commercial vessels in deep waters, marking a new chapter in the shadow wars between the two sides following strikes on nuclear and military sites within the country or in Syria.
Previous Western reports revealed that Israel targeted no fewer than 12 Iranian oil tankers or those carrying Iranian oil heading to Syria over the past two and a half years. Additionally, American and regional officials indicated that since late 2019, Israel has used weaponry including naval mines to strike Iranian ships or those carrying Iranian cargo while heading to Syria, in attacks carried out in the Red Sea and other areas of the region.
