The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said earlier that a vessel in the Gulf of Oman was “seized by regional authorities” near the Strait of Hormuz northeast of the Emirati port city of Fujairah, without identifying the ship or elaborating on who seized it.
It was not immediately clear whether the ship had any ties to Israel. IRNA said the vessel was Portuguese-flagged and managed by a company owned by an Israeli businessman. British marine safety firm Ambrey said it had reviewed visuals of at least three people rappelling from a helicopter “onto what appeared to be a container ship,” and noted that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard “have previously used this method of boarding while seizing vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.”
A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the evolving situation, said U.S. authorities were aware of the reports, but did not provide further details or confirm the name of the vessel.
New of the seized vessel came after the United States began dispatching more warplanes and ships to the Middle East, bracing for an Iranian counterstrike against Israel and spillover violence directed at American troops in the region. The region has been on alert for Tehran’s promised retaliation to an Israeli strike near Iran’s embassy in Damascus, Syria, which killed two senior members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard this month.
Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attack in Damascus, although The Washington Post reported that Pentagon officials were frustrated Israel did not notify Washington, its biggest backer, of the strike, an escalation which the Pentagon views as increasing risks to U.S. forces.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has issued a security alert restricting the movement of government employees and their families, as governments around the world, from France to India, warn their citizens against travel to Israel or Iran.
President Biden told reporters Friday that he expected an attack on Israel to come “sooner rather than later.” When asked for his message to Iran, he replied: “Don’t.”
The Pentagon move to beef up U.S. presence in the Middle East reflects concern from the Biden administration that its support for Israel’s war in Gaza could spur wider violence. The April 1 attack near Iran’s embassy heightened fears of widening war across the region, where confrontations have simmered between Iranian-backed groups and Israeli forces or the United States.
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The Israeli military said Friday that it completed a review of its readiness. Iran’s supreme leader pledged Israel would “regret” the strike, which Tehran said was especially brazen as it hit a diplomatic compound — which are traditionally exempt from hostilities. Israel has vowed to hit back if Iran “attacks from its territory.”
Jacob Toukhy, a staff member of the USAID mission in the West Bank and Gaza, was killed near his home in Jaffa, according to an internal memo seen by The Washington Post. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is working with the U.S. Embassy to ascertain details about the death, the agency said Friday.
The Israeli military said trucks transporting food entered through a new aid crossing into northern Gaza. It was not clear how much aid went in on Friday. Israel announced plans to boost aid deliveries, after its deadly attack on World Central Kitchen aid workers and as it faces international pressure to stave off famine in the besieged enclave.
A Palestinian was killed and 25 injured in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said after settlers stormed the village of al-Mughayir on Friday, according to Israeli human rights group Yesh Din. The rights group said settlers had entered, setting vehicles and homes ablaze, as violence erupted during a search for a missing 14-year-old from a nearby settlement. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the reported settler attack, but said it was operating in the area, blocking roads and “conducting scans,” because of the wide search for the teenager. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said settlers opened fire on its ambulance trying to reach the wounded in the village.
At least 33,634 people have been killed and 76,214 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants and says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 260 soldiers have been killed since the start of its military operation in Gaza.
Alon Rom, Dan Lamothe, Bryan Pietsch and John Hudson contributed to this report
