Two crewmembers, a Briton and a Romanian, died on Thursday when the Mercer Street tanker was attacked by an armed drone believed to be operated by Iran off the coast of Oman.
Iran’s state-run Alam TV, citing unnamed sources, reported Friday that the incident in the Arabian Sea was in “retaliation for last week’s Israeli attack on the Al-Dabaa Military Airport in the al-Qusair area of Homs.”
The Syrian regime is backed by Iranian forces. No Iranian official has commented on the attack and CNN has reached out to Iran’s foreign ministry for comment.
The vessel was traveling from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Fujariah in the United Arab Emirates with no cargo onboard, the ship’s management firm said.
It is reportedly sailing under a Liberian flag, according to the maritime tracking website Marine Traffic. The ship is Japanese-owned and managed by Zodiac Maritime, an international management…
