Tehran: Iran on Monday vowed to respond to any “adventurism” after the US and Britain joined Israel in blaming Tehran for a deadly tanker attack on an Israeli owned ship in Oman Sea.
The MT Mercer Street, managed by prominent Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, was attacked on Thursday off Oman reportedly by a sophisticated kamikaze drone.
A security guard and a crew member were killed.
Israel blamed Iran for the attack, accusations rejected by Tehran.
The US and Britain later blamed Iran for the attack, with Washington vowing an “appropriate response”.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said Monday that Israel “must stop such baseless accusations”.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not hesitate, even for a moment, to defend its security and national interests, and will answer any possible adventurism with immediate, powerful and serious action,” he told reporters.
Noting that Iran is always ready to work with regional countries to provide maritime security, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said, “Tehran considers the presence and interventions by trans-regional forces in the Persian Gulf waters and its littoral countries as detrimental to regional stability and security.”
He dismissed US and Britain’s statements as “contradictory”, and said “if they have any evidence to support their baseless claims they should provide them”.
Iran also accused them of effectively supporting “terrorist attacks against and sabotage of Iran’s commercial ships” through their “silence”.
There have been several recent reported attacks on Iranian ships that Tehran has linked to Israel.
In March, Iran said it was “considering all options” after an attack on a cargo ship in the Mediterranean, that it blamed on Israel.
In April, Tehran said its freighter Saviz was hit by an “explosion” in the Red Sea, after media reports said Israel had targeted the ship.
The New York Times reported at the time that this was an Israeli “retaliatory” attack, after “Iran’s earlier strikes on Israeli ships”.
Iran has also accused Israel of sabotaging its nuclear sites and killing a number of its scientists.
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