ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Swiss-based maritime trade giant said on Tuesday that one of its vessels was struck by two missiles after departing from a southern Iraqi port a day earlier, condemning the attack as unjustified. The remarks come a day after the Iranian navy said it targeted the same vessel, claiming it was owned by the United States and Israel - allegations the parent company firmly denied.
The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) said its vessel, the Sariska, “was struck by two projectiles in the port of Umm Qasr” in Iraq’s southern Basra province, adding that “the first hit while the pilot was onboard as the vessel departed from port and a second impacted the crew area soon afterwards.” All crew members were unharmed.
Importantly, MSC noted that while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has “claimed responsibility for this attack in response to US actions on the vessel Lian Star… this retaliatory action is completely unjustified… since MSC is a neutral commercial carrier with no affiliation to the United States or Israel.”
The Geneva-based shipping giant further affirmed that while the company is “headquartered and domiciled in Switzerland,” it is wholly owned by two Italian nationals who hold no other citizenship, and expressed deep concern over “these unprovoked attacks and the risk they create for its innocent seafarers and essential maritime trade in the region.”
The MSC statement comes a day after the IRGC Navy said on Monday that it had attacked the vessel, according to Tasnim News Agency, an outlet affiliated with the Corps.
“In response to the aggressive attack by the terrorist and child-killing US military on the Iranian vessel ‘Lian Star’ in the Gulf of Oman region, the IRGC Navy, in a retaliatory operation, targeted the vessel MSC Sariska, owned by the American-Zionist enemy, with a cruise missile,” Tasnim said.
The statement came after the US CENTCOM confirmed that US forces operating in the Gulf of Oman on Friday “enforced blockade measures by disabling a Gambia-flagged maritime vessel attempting to sail toward an Iranian port.”
The motor vessel Lian Star was “transiting international waters toward an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman,” prompting CENTCOM forces to issue “more than 20 warnings” informing the vessel that it was in violation of the US blockade.
“A U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room after Lian Star’s crew failed to comply,” the statement added, noting that “U.S. forces have disabled five commercial vessels and redirected 116 to fully enforce the blockade as a ceasefire with Iran remains in effect.”
The US and Israel in late February launched a large-scale aerial campaign against Iran, striking thousands of targets across the country over six weeks of hostilities, before the warring sides agreed to a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire on April 8, halting fighting to allow space for talks.
While the first round of talks concluded without a final agreement on April 11, a second round has yet to take place, with a comprehensive resolution to the conflict still pending.
Alongside the diplomatic efforts, Tehran and Washington engaged in reciprocal maritime measures. Iran tightened its control over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, while the US imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports beginning April 13.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported on Tuesday that since the start of the Iran war in late February, it had received 53 reports of incidents affecting vessels operating in and around the Arabian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman.
Of these reports, 29 were attacks and 22 involved suspicious activity; meanwhile, two were hijacking incidents, the British maritime monitor said.