Israel knows with certainty Iran attacked the Mercer Street ship and will respond to it, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday.Bennett’s remarks came after Iran denied involvement in Friday’s bombing off the coast of Oman, a move that the prime minister called “cowardly.”
“I determine, with absolute certainty – Iran carried out the attack against the ship,” Bennett stated. “The intelligence evidence for this exists and we expect the international community will make it clear to the Iranian regime that they have made a serious mistake.”
Israel has made a concerted push for an international response to the attack, one of a series from Iran on vessels partially owned by Israelis in recent years.
Still, the prime minister warned: “In any case, we know how to send a message to Iran in our own way.”
“Iran's thuggishness endangers not only Israel, but also harms global interests, namely freedom of navigation and international trade,” Bennett warned. This message is one that Foreign Minister Yair Lapid relayed in phone calls with his foreign counterparts and instructed Israeli ambassadors in London, Washington and New York to send in meetings with relevant parties at the capitals and in the UN.
Bennett said Iran used unmanned aircraft to attack the ship, which it viewed as an Israeli target. Mercer Street, is a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned vessel managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.
Rather than striking Israelis, the Iranian attack killed the ship’s Romanian captain and a British crew member. They were the first casualties in the ongoing maritime violence between Iran and Israel. Bennett sent condolences to the UK and Romania.
According to a diplomatic source, Israel is "working with other countries, especially Britain and the United States, and more to advance the Security Council's discussion on this serious terrorist act by Iran that joins its other actions that call into question and endanger all maritime security and free trade."
ACCORDING TO a senior Israeli official, the attack – which took place just days before the swearing-in of Iran’s new hardline president Ebrahim Raisi – shows “the masks are coming off and no one can pretend they don’t know the character of the Iranian regime.”
“Iran is sowing violence and destruction in every corner of the region,” the official added. “Out of their eagerness to attack an Israeli target, they embroiled themselves and incriminated themselves in the killing of foreign citizens.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi spoke on the phone following the strike, which is being treated as a severe terror attack.
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