An
Israeli official had blamed Iran for the strike on the Pacific Zircon tanker
managed by Israeli-controlled Eastern Pacific Shipping. The company said there
was minor damage to the hull but no injuries or spillage of the gas oil cargo.
A White House official earlier said the United States
was confident that Iran likely conducted the hit using an unmanned aerial
vehicle. Iran's Nournews, which is affiliated with the country's top security
body, blamed Israel for the attack.
US
Central Command said in a statement late on Wednesday that debris reveals that
it was a Shahed-series one-way attack drone that hit the vessel, identifying it
as Iranian-made.
This
unmanned aerial vehicle attack against a civilian vessel in this critical
maritime strait demonstrates, once again, the destabilizing nature of Iranian
malign activity in the region," the Central Command statement said.
It said a multilateral operation responded to the scene led
by the British Royal Navy's HMS Lancaster. US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS
The Sullivans and a US Navy patrol coastal ship and patrol craft were involved
in the operation.
Attacks on tankers in Gulf waters in recent years have come
at times of heightened regional tensions with Iran.
In July 2021, a suspected drone attack off Oman's coast hit
a petroleum product tanker managed by an Israeli firm. Iran denied the
accusations that it was responsible.
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