Washington accused Tehran of finishing up a drone assault on Saturday on the MV Chem Pluto tanker 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) off the coast of India, claims Iran’s overseas ministry dubbed “worthless”.

It was the primary time Washington has brazenly accused Iran of instantly focusing on ships for the reason that begin of Israel’s battle on the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is backed by Tehran.

The Liberian-flagged and Japanese-owned MV Chem Pluto was moored off India’s port of Mumbai on Monday.

“Analysis of the area of attack and debris found on the ship points towards a drone attack,” India’s navy mentioned, including “further forensic and technical analysis will be required”.

Elsewhere, within the Red Sea, Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels have carried out a string of drone and missile assaults in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the place Israel is battling Hamas militants.

The battle was triggered by an unprecedented assault on Israel launched by Hamas on October 7 from the Gaza Strip, throughout which about 1,140 folks, principally civilians, had been killed, in line with an AFP tally based mostly on Israeli figures. Fighters additionally seized about 250 hostages, Israel says.

Israel’s marketing campaign has killed at the least 20,674 folks, principally girls and kids, in Gaza, in line with the Hamas-run well being ministry.

Yemeni insurgent assaults have prompted main corporations to reroute their cargo vessels across the southern tip of Africa, a for much longer voyage with increased gas prices.

New Delhi can be boosting its anti-piracy efforts within the Gulf of Aden after Somali pirates this month hijacked the majority provider MV Ruen.

India’s navy mentioned it had shadowed the Bulgaria-owned and Malta-flagged vessel after it was seized by Somali pirates 380 nautical miles east of the Yemeni island of Socotra on December 16.

The Somali pirates, who launched one injured sailor into the care of the Indian navy, took the MV Ruen and its remaining 17 crew members to Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland, the place it’s now moored off the town of Bosaso, the navy mentioned.

India had additionally despatched a guided-missile destroyer to the area as a part of “augmenting the anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden”, the navy added.

Pirate assaults off the Somali coast peaked in 2011 — with the gunmen launching assaults so far as 3,655 kilometres (2,271 miles) from the Somali coast within the Indian Ocean — earlier than falling off sharply lately.

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