EU says Iran behind attack on Mercer Street
The European Union on August 8 became the latest to blame Iran directly for a July attack on a merchant vessel that left two people dead.
The Israeli-owned merchant vessel Mercer Street was targeted by drones in a July incident near Oman. The attack left a British and Romanian national dead.
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EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said that such actions are a clear violation of international law and pose a direct threat to the freedom of navigation.
“All available evidence clearly points to Iran,” he added.
His comments followed similar accusations from the US and UK governments. On Monday, however, Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, was quoted in the semiofficial Fars News Agency as saying that it was Western powers that were the belligerent parties in regional waters.
“Unfortunately, in the Red Sea and other international waterways, we see Israeli state terrorism and the silence of governments, including Britain and the US,” he said. An Iranian vessel was attacked in the Red Sea in April, an incident the Iranian government blamed on Israel.