The country’s hardline Kayhan daily, whose editor-in-chief was appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, alleged the Helios Ray was “possibly” on an “espionage” mission in the region, without offering any evidence to support the claim. Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on the ship. The blast hit as the ship was sailing from the Saudi port Dammam out of the Gulf of Oman, forcing it to turn to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, for inspection. The Helios Ray discharged cars at various ports in the Gulf before making its way out of the Middle East towards Singapore.

Haaretz newspaper reported that Israeli defence officials flew to Dubai on Saturday to investigate the incident. Gilad Erdan, Israeli ambassador to the US and United Nations, told Israel’s Army Radio on Sunday “it was no secret that the Iranians are trying to harm Israeli targets”, adding the explosion on the ship bore the hallmarks of other Iranian attacks. On Saturday, Israeli’s defence minister Benny Gantz said an initial assessment found Iran was responsible for the explosion. Tehran denied any role in the suspected assaults, which happened near the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil chokepoint. The blast on the ship, a Bahamian-flagged roll-on, roll-off vehicle cargo vessel, recalled a string of attacks on foreign oil tankers in 2019 that the US Navy blamed on Iran. The cargo vessel was hit by an explosion in the Gulf of Oman while bound for Singapore Įmirati officials did not immediately acknowledge or respond to requests for comment on the vessel docking in the country. Iran has sought to pressure President Joe Biden’s administration to give it the sanctions relief it had received under the accord, which former President Donald Trump abandoned. It remains unclear what caused the explosion, but the incident comes amid sharply rising tension between the United States and Iran over its unravelling 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Keep reading list of 4 items list 1 of 4 Iran: Perpetrators of ‘suspicious’ Iraq attacks must be found list 2 of 4 Explosion hits Israeli-owned cargo ship in Gulf of Oman list 3 of 4 US moves carrier from Gulf in a sign of ebbing tensions with Iran list 4 of 4 UN urges Gulf states to step up to avert Yemen famine end of list

Helios ray marine traffic