Israel has bombed at least a dozen ships en route to Syria in the past two years, most of which have been carrying Iranian oil, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing US and regional officials.
The attacks, which the article said included water mines in the Red Sea and other areas of the region, would, if confirmed, suggest a new front in the semi-covert conflict between arch-foes Israel and Iran.
Israel has conducted hundreds of aerial bombings against Iranian forces and their allies in neighbouring Syria, but it has not indicated if it has also been conducting strikes at sea. Officials do not usually comment on alleged military action and did not confirm or deny the Wall Street Journal claims.
Some of the naval attacks blocked Iranian efforts to move weaponry in the region, the US media outlet reported. Oil shipments were targeted “out of concern that petroleum profits are funding extremism in the Middle East”.
The strikes did not sink any tankers but forced at least two to return to port in Iran, it added. Iran did not immediately comment on the report.
The revelations follow two recent incidents involving tankers that have raised tensions between the two countries. First was a blast on an Israeli-owned ship, the Helios Ray, in the Gulf of Oman last month. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, blamed the explosion on Iran, saying: “Iran is the greatest enemy of Israel. I am determined to halt it. We are hitting it in the entire region.” Iran denied the claim.
Second, Israel announced that a recent tar spill that ravaged its shores was caused by a tanker carrying Iranian oil bound for Syria. Beachgoers and cleanup crews have found baby turtles and fish covered in black sludge.
The Israeli environmental protection minister, Gila Gamliel, went as far as to suggest the incident was intentional, calling it a form of “environmental terrorism”. However, that claim was widely rebuffed by other officials, who said it was a leak.
There was no suggestion or evidence that the tanker may have been hit by one of the alleged Israeli strikes reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Iranian state TV separately reported on Friday that an Iranian cargo vessel was targeted this week in a “terrorist attack” in the Mediterranean. There were no casualties in the explosion, the report said.
The report quoted Ali Ghiasian, a spokesperson for the state shipping line, as saying that Wednesday’s attack damaged Shahr-e Kord, a commercial vessel travelling to Europe. Ghiasian said an “explosives device” damaged the hull of the ship and set off a small fire that was quickly extinguished. The report said the ship would continue on its path following a damage assessment, without providing more details. It did not blame anyone for the alleged attack.
Israel often coordinates its military activities with the US, or at least informs its key ally. However, the country is concerned that the new administration in Washington will take a softer approach on Iran than that of Donald Trump. Joe Biden has plans to resurrect a US-Iran nuclear deal that is opposed by Israel as it considers Iran to be an uncooperative “terrorist regime”.
Meanwhile, officials in Iran have accused Israel of “military adventurism”, and Tehran alleged that its enemy assassinated its top nuclear scientist last year, a claim Israel denies. The Israeli military accused Iranian forces of firing rockets at its troops in 2018.