Iranian paramilitary forces seized a container ship near the Strait of Hormuz that the country’s state-run media said is “linked to Israel.”
A video shows commandos repelling down from a helicopter onto the MSC Aries, a Portugal-flagged ship carrying 25 crew members. In a Saturday statement, MSC confirmed Iranian authorities boarded the vessel and that “she has since been diverted from her itinerary towards Iran.”
The seizure by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps comes at a high point of tensions in the Middle East, as Iran has been expected to retaliate against Israel this weekend following Israel’s killing of Iranian paramilitary leaders in Syria. For days, senior Biden administration officials have been working with foreign counterparts to persuade Iran against a massive attack. The growing consensus was that Iran had calibrated its plans to hurt Israel but not drag other nations, including the United States, into a broader regional war.