COMMANDOS from Iran's Revolutionary Guard rappelled down from a helicopter onto an Israeli-affiliated containership near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the British-Israeli owned Madeira-flagged 15,000-TEU ship, reported the Associated Press.
Some said this was retaliation from Tehran after a suspected Israeli strike hit an Iranian consulate in Syria, reported Lyons-based Euronews.
Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that a Republican Guards helicopter had boarded and taken into Iranian waters the MSC Aries.
The Middle East had been braced for Iranian retaliation after an Israeli air strike at an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed 12 people, including a Republican Guard general.
Iranian-backed forces such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen's Houthis, are also involved in the fighting, threatening to escalate a wider war.
London's Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Group. Zodiac declined to comment and referred questions to Geneva-based MSC, which later acknowledged that 25 crew had been taken.
Earlier, a Middle East defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, shared a video of the attack with The Associated Press. In it, the Iranian commandos are seen rappelling down onto a stack of containers on the deck of the vessel.
The helicopter used also appeared to be a Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopter, which both the Guard and the Iranian-backed Houthis of Yemen have used in the past to conduct commando raids on ships.
The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations described the vessel as being 'seized by regional authorities' in the Gulf of Oman off the Emirati port city of Fujairah, without elaborating.
SeaNews Turkey
Some said this was retaliation from Tehran after a suspected Israeli strike hit an Iranian consulate in Syria, reported Lyons-based Euronews.
Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that a Republican Guards helicopter had boarded and taken into Iranian waters the MSC Aries.
The Middle East had been braced for Iranian retaliation after an Israeli air strike at an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed 12 people, including a Republican Guard general.
Iranian-backed forces such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen's Houthis, are also involved in the fighting, threatening to escalate a wider war.
London's Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Group. Zodiac declined to comment and referred questions to Geneva-based MSC, which later acknowledged that 25 crew had been taken.
Earlier, a Middle East defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, shared a video of the attack with The Associated Press. In it, the Iranian commandos are seen rappelling down onto a stack of containers on the deck of the vessel.
The helicopter used also appeared to be a Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopter, which both the Guard and the Iranian-backed Houthis of Yemen have used in the past to conduct commando raids on ships.
The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations described the vessel as being 'seized by regional authorities' in the Gulf of Oman off the Emirati port city of Fujairah, without elaborating.
SeaNews Turkey
