Vikrant Shekhawat : Dec 24, 2023, 01:00 PM
Drone Attack: The drone that attacked a chemical tanker in the Arabian Sea near Gujarat's Porbandar coast on Saturday was fired from Iran. The Pentagon made such a claim on Saturday. There were about 20 Indian crew members on this ship. The Pentagon says the attack occurred around 10 am local time. He has claimed that this ship is Japanese owned. Simultaneously the fire in the ship was extinguished.The statement said that the US military is maintaining contact with the ship. He is currently moving towards his destination in India. The incident highlights rising regional tensions and a new threat to shipping lanes following Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7. The Iranian government and its ally militants in Yemen have publicly criticized the Israeli government's military campaign in Gaza. It has been claimed that thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.Iran attacks commercial shipping for the seventh timeThe Pentagon statement said this was the seventh Iranian attack on commercial shipping since 2021. At the same time, the spokesperson of the Iranian delegation to the United Nations has refused to immediately respond to this attack. However, no country or organization has yet taken responsibility for the attack. Recently, there was a drone and missile attack on a shipping lane in the Red Sea by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.Merchant ship MV Chem Pluto is being brought to India under the supervision of Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard. Officials say that the ship was carrying chemicals from Jubail port in Saudi Arabia to Mangalore. According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), it was attacked around 11.30 am, 217 nautical miles off Porbandar. In a statement late night, the Indian Coast Guard said that the ship's power generation system has been repaired and the ship has now started moving towards Mumbai.India established real time contactUKMTO, citing the crew of 21 people, said that everyone on the ship is safe and the attack was carried out by an uncrewed aerial system (UAS). Due to this, there was an explosion and a fire broke out in the ship, due to which the power supply was stopped. The Indian Coast Guard Maritime Coordination Center (MRCC) established real-time contact with the ship's agent and determined that there was no loss of life or property, a statement said. Also assured of all assistance.