A drone launched from Iran has struck a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned, and Dutch-operated chemical tanker in the Indian ocean, as the risks to international commercial shipping extends beyond the Red Sea.
“A chemical tanker struck Saturday off the coast of India was targeted ‘by a one-way attack drone fired from Iran’, the Pentagon said in a statement.
The U.S. military ‘remains with the vessel as it continues toward a destination in India’, it added.
The Pentagon statement said the Chem Pluto ship flew under a Liberian flag and was operated by a Dutch entity.
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| Merchant ship MV Chem Pluto |
The drone strike occurred 200 nautical miles off the coast of India, it said, adding that no U.S. Navy vessels were in the vicinity.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strike which came amid a flurry of drone and missile attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on a vital shipping lane in the Red Sea. The U.S. on Friday accused Iran of close involvement in those attacks.
However, Iran's deputy foreign minister on Saturday dismissed those U.S. accusations, claiming the group was acting on its own.
The Houthis say they are conducting the attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip". -CBS News
This being the first time the U.S. Defense Department has openly accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of directly targeting commercial vessels since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the U.S. has responded by requesting that allied navies send warships to the Middle East under the command of the Pentagon’s Operation Prosperity Guardian.
However, as several countries, including Australia, Italy, France, and Spain, have already declined to participate in the operation to protect maritime trade routes, it’s safe to assume that other major shipping companies will soon suspend sails through international waterways, displaying a lack of confidence in the United States ability to protect navigational rights.