Israel National News (israelnationalnews) 7 reported that Israel notified the United States of the attack on the Iranian ship in the Red Sea.
U.S. officials told the New York Times that the Israelis claimed the attack was in retaliation for an earlier Iranian attack on an Israeli ship.
Photo: The ship that was attacked in the Red Sea.
A U.S. official told The New York Times on Tuesday that Israel had informed the United States that its forces had struck the Iranian military vessel Saviz in the Red Sea at about 7:30 a.m. local time.
The official, who asked not to be named, said the Israelis said the attack was in retaliation for an earlier Iranian attack on an Israeli ship.
The official also said the Saviz was damaged below the waterline.
As of Tuesday night, Israeli officials had not commented on the attack on the ship.
Reports in October 2020 had indicated that the Saviz was registered as a merchant vessel and suspected to be a secret Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forward base stationed in a strategic location off the coast of Yemen.
According to Al Jazeera, the U.S. official noted that Israel delayed the attack in the Red Sea in order to keep the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier away from the Iranian ship Saviz in advance.
Earlier, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency correspondent reported that the Iranian ship Saviz was attacked by a mine in the Red Sea, and Washington denied any connection to the attack.
The Saviz has reportedly been stationed in the Red Sea for the past several years to support Iranian special forces responsible for escorting commercial vessels against pirate incursions.
A U.S. Defense Department spokesman denied to Al Jazeera that U.S. forces were involved in the attack on the Iranian vessel and said Washington had no further information about the attack.
Data from MarineTraffic, a website used to monitor maritime traffic, shows that the Iranian ship “Saviz” has stopped in the Red Sea.
The U.S. Naval Institute says the Iranian ship Saviz may be involved in espionage activities in the Red Sea region.
The institute added on its website that the ship may be providing support to Iranian forces, transporting oil to Syria and providing support to the Houthis in Yemen.
The institute also said the ship belonged to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and ostensibly operated as a merchant vessel.
In response, the official Israeli channel Kan said that talk of the attack comes in the context of foreign reports attributing a series of attacks to Israel, calling it a naval battle between Tehran and Tel Aviv.
It suggests that the said Iranian ship is a floating base of Iranian military forces off the coast of Yemen.
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