The ship, which was set to arrive in Singapore at the beginning of March, reportedly turned around to head back towards the Strait of Hormuz after being struck; There is speculation of Iranian involvement.
An Israeli cargo ship known as the MV Helios Ray was struck with an unexpected explosion upon traveling through the Gulf of Oman. The ship departed from Saudi Arabia’s port of Dammam mid-week with plans to arrive in Singapore before the end of the first week of March. Upon being struck, the ship was forced to turn around and head towards the Strait of Hormuz.
None of the crew members (28) were injured during the suspected attack, which has left lingering speculation of Iranian involvement.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz stated on Saturday, “We will need to keep investigating, but we can say for sure that Iran is attempting to damage Israeli infrastructure and to hurt Israeli citizens. The location of the ship in relatively close proximity to Iran raises the notion, the assessment, that it is the Iranians.”
“There is no indication at this point as to the cause of the explosion. However, the incident took place close to an area where two vessels were attacked in July 2019 with what was believed to be limpet mines. There is nothing at present to suggest that this is the case in this incident,” said the Neptune P2P group, a maritime security organization based in Dubai.
At this time, Iran has not admitted to any involvement in what took place.
