Iranian special forces have seized a Portuguese container ship owned indirectly by an Israeli billionaire in international waters off the United Arab Emirates early Saturday local time. The ship, the MSC Aries, a 160,000-ton container ship en route from Khalifa, UAE, to Nhava Sheva, India, with a crew of 20 Filipino nationals, is owned by Zodiac Maritime. Zodiac Maritime is owned by Ofer Global, which is owned by Israeli-born billionaire Eyal Ofer, who resides in Monaco.
Iran has seized MSC Aries outbound from UAE to India. She is Maderia International Registry & owned through Zodiac Maritime, a part of Ofer Global, chaired by Eyal Ofer, hence the targeting by the IRGC.
This is similar to the #Houthi capture of Galaxy Leader in Nov. https://t.co/FTJT5LRBhe pic.twitter.com/AVOtKbpbbi
— Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) 🚢⚓🐪🚒🏴☠️ (@mercoglianos) April 13, 2024
The MSC Aries was intercepted about 50 miles from the UAE coast and boarded by Iranian “commandos” who fast-roped onto the deck.
According to Iranian media, this ship has been taken into Iranian waters.
This is not the first ship owned by Ofer that has come under attack since the Israel-Hamas War started on October 7. The US Navy rescued the M/V Central Park from Houthi pirates in November.
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Given the rumors of an impending attack by Iran upon Israeli interests in retaliation for Israel splattering seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps honchos over the walls of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, there is a temptation to connect the dots.
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That doesn’t seem to be the case here. Iran launched a drone attack on another Zodiac Maritime-owned ship, the Liberian-flagged tanker M/V Campo Square, in February 2023. It is difficult to see how pirating a ship flagged in Portugal, crewed by Filipinos, and owned by a guy living in Monaco is a major strike at the Little Satan.
