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IRGC targets US-Israeli shipping in tit-for-tat attack on Iranian vessel
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy struck the giant cargo ship MSC Sariska, affiliated with the “American‑Zionist enemy”, with a cruise missile in a reciprocal operation after a US attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Sea of Oman.
The IRGC Navy’s public relations department announced on Tuesday that the strike was a direct response to the “aggressive and treacherous attack” by the US military on the Iranian bulk carrier Lian Star.
The MSC Sariska, a Panamanian‑flagged vessel, was targeted near Iraqi waters and sustained a major explosion.
The IRGC Navy warned that any further aggression by the US army in the region will be met with a decisive response.
A Swiss-based company said on Tuesday that two projectiles hit the container vessel in the Persian Gulf as it was leaving a port in Iraq.
Both the company MSC, based in Geneva, and the British maritime security agency UKMTO reported no injuries to crew members in the Monday's incident.
The UKMTO said the vessel was 40 nautical miles off the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr when the initial explosion occurred on Monday.
In a statement, MSC claimed that it "is a neutral commercial carrier with no affiliation to the United States or Israel.”
On Friday, a US aircraft fired an AGM‑114 Hellfire missile at the engine room of the bulk carrier Lian Star, disabling the vessel.
The Lian Star is a commercial vessel that was operating in international waters when it was targeted.
Iran has accused the United States of an act of state‑sponsored maritime terrorism.
The exchange comes amid heightened tensions in the strategic waters of the Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf.