Tehran | Iran on Monday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s accusation that Tehran was behind an explosion on an Israeli ship in the Arabian Sea, and issued a warning to Israel.
“We firmly reject this accusation” because “the source of this accusation is itself the least credible there is, which shows its invalidity”, declared the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Saïd Khatibzadeh, in a statement. press conference in Tehran.
The MV Helios Ray, an Israeli vessel carrying vehicles, was on the way between the Saudi city of Dammam and Singapore, when the explosion on board last week off the Sultanate of Oman, according to Dryad Global, a company specializing in maritime safety.
On Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of being at the origin of the disaster. Two days earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz had raised the possibility of an attack by Iran against the Israeli boat.
“It is clear that this is an Iranian act. And as for my response, you know my policy. Iran is Israel’s greatest enemy and I am determined to stop it and we will strike it all over the region, ”Netanyahu said.
The spokesman for Iranian diplomacy saw Mr. Netanyahu’s statement as a “diversionary maneuver” for domestic political purposes that “only benefits the corrupt prime minister of the Zionist regime.”
“If the occupation regime in Jerusalem wants to use this accusation as a basis to create new tensions, we will monitor and follow them closely,” Khatibzadeh added. “If anything happens, we will respond to it at the appropriate time.”