Iran rejects involvement in recent attacks on Israeli-linked ships

Tehran: Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Monday rejected Iran’s involvement in the recent attacks on Israeli-linked vessels in the Red Sea.
Kanaani said such incidents “have no relation to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” adding that Yemen’s Houthis had claimed responsibility for the seizure of the first Israeli ship on Nov. 19.
In a statement on Nov. 19, the Houthis announced, “a military operation in the Red Sea … the results of which included the seizure of an Israeli ship.”
The statement said the group would continue to carry out military operations against Israel until “its aggression against the Gaza Strip stops.”
On Sunday, another vessel, the Liberian-flagged Central Park, which is managed by a Britain-based ship management firm owned by Israel’s Ofer family, was intercepted by unknown attackers before being released under the help of the U.S. Navy.
On Saturday, a U.S. defense official said a Malta-flagged container ship, known as CMA CGM Symi and managed by an Israeli-controlled company, was hit a day earlier by a suspected “Iranian drone” in the Indian Ocean, which caused minor damage to the vessel but no casualties.