The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations released a statement on July 30, alleging that a ship was attacked near the coast of Oman. Shortly after, UK Defense Ministry confirmed the allegation, adding that the ship was an Israeli-operated tanker.
Just within hours after these remarks, Israeli officials and media claimed that the attack against the Mercer Street ship was carried out by Iran, while they gave no evidence or proof for their claims.
While such incidents need a thorough investigation to identify the cause and those involved, the UK, the US, G7, and some Western countries joined the Israeli regime in aiming accusations at Iran and called for a Security Council meeting to address the issue.
While the Western media and diplomatic hype surrounded this incident, they were silent when several similar incidents happened to Iranian ships in recent years.
In 2019, three Iranian vessels were attacked during six months in the Red Sea, but Western capitals were tight-lipped on those incidents.
An Iranian tanker called Happiness was attacked off the coast of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in May 2019.
Again in August that year, another Iranian tanker called Helm was subject to sabotage 75 miles north of the coast of Yanbu port in the Red Sea.
In another incident, Iran’s Sabiti oil tanker was targeted by two missiles 60 miles off Jeddah port in the Red Sea and a 1.5-meter hole was dug on the ship.
However, the spokesman for the UK Foreign Ministry only called the incident "concerning" and said that they were seeking the facts.
The US was only content saying that it was aware of the incident but has no details about it.
Iran’s Ports and Maritime Navigation Organization said that no regional organization did respond to the Iranian ship’s assistance request at the time of the incident, in contrast with international law and humanitarian principles.
But today, the world sees that those who kept silent when Iranian ships were targeted by sabotage acts make a lot of noise about the incident in the Oman Sea, accusing Iran of unfounded allegations.
“We understand one of the UK’s citizens has lost life and that is for everybody a regrettable act, but that doesn’t mean you can put the blame immediately on one country. You have to investigate the case, you have to have evidence,” Iran’s Ambassador to London Mohsen Baharvand said in an interview with Financial Times.
Baharvand said Israel had attacked 11 Iranian merchant vessels this year. “If you are worried about the trade [and] shipping, you have to see what is happening there,” he said. “Israel is nervous about the JCPOA [the nuclear deal]. They are nervous about the power of Iran.”
The incident has been addressed in the UN Security Council, but some members of the council have rejected to blindly support the Israeli regime’s claims and have asked for further investigation.
A source in the UN has said that some Security Council members refused to support UK’s allegations against Iran in Friday's meeting and called for an independent and thorough investigation.
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