Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have detained a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.
Footage provided to the news agency Associated Press showed commandos rappelling down from a helicopter and raiding the ship.
UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and British maritime intelligence firm Ambrey also said that a ship had been seized by regional authorities 50 nautical miles (92 km) northeast of Fujairah.
A US defense official said “we are aware of the situation reported by UKMTO and we are monitoring it.”
What do we know about the ship?
Iranian media and ship tracking websites identified the vessel as the MSC Aries, a Portuguese-flagged container ship associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime.
Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group.
MSC later confirmed that the ship had been boarded by Iranian authorities.
More to follow…
zc/rc (AP, Reuters, dpa)
