Get ready for closure of Mediterranean Sea and Gibraltar

The deputy coordinator of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps said on Saturday that the United States and its allies might have to halt their activities in several more waterways due to their persisting crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip. 

“Yesterday, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz were a nightmare for them, today the Bab-el-Mandeb and the Red Sea have grounded them, and with the continuation of these crimes, they should soon expect the closure of the Mediterranean Sea and Gibraltar,” said General Mohammadreza Naghdi.

The US has formed what it calls an international alliance to counter Yemen’s attacks in the Red Sea, which have been targeting Israeli-bound ships in recent weeks in response to the regime’s killing campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Attacks by the popular Ansarullah movement have been recorded against Israeli-linked vessels. This has caused Israel’s Eilat Port to see an 85% drop in activity. 

The high-ranking IRGC official warned that more resistance groups are to be formed in the future if the US and the Israeli regime do not put an end to their massacre of innocent people. 

"Today we all witness the unprecedented awakening of nations. The people in the entire world have been on the streets for nearly 80 days and are shouting for justice. Throughout these days, people file lawsuits and shout against the oppressors," he added.

The latest round of Israeli attacks on Gaza, which began after a successful operation by Palestinian resistance group Hamas on the occupied territories, has killed more than 20,000 civilians in the past 80 days. More than 70% of the dead are comprised of women and children.

Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubbles in the territory as those managing to flee from Israeli bombardments grapple with a lack of food, water, and medicine due to a full siege by the Israeli regime. 

Israel accuses Iran of ecological terrorism

Iran intentionally polluted the Mediterranean Sea and Israel’s shores in an act of ecological terrorism, causing the greatest environmental disaster in Israel’s history, Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel said.

“This pollution has people who are responsible for it and have to pay the price. Our nature is damaged, our animals are harmed, thanks to merciless environmental criminals,” Gamliel added.

Gamliel explained, following a two-week investigation, the Environmental Protection Ministry found that the ship that leaked the crude oil, called the Emerald, was owned by a Libyan company and sailed from Iran to Syria. It departed Iran, turning off its automatic identification system (AIS) – which transmits its location to other ships in the area. It turned the AIS on as it went through the Suez Canal, and then off again as it approached Israel’s shores.

The ship remained within tens of kilometers of Israel’s shores, within Israel’s economic waters, for nearly a full day, spilling large amounts of oil on 1st and 2nd February, with its AIS off.

Then it continued on to Syria, where it turned on its transmitter, and it returned to Iran, turning off its AIS as it passed Israel. It is currently in Iran.

The tar reached Israeli shores on 17th February 2021.

“Now we see Iran is not just terrorizing [Israel] with [attempts at attaining] nuclear weapons and entrenching itself in our region, but also by harming the environment,” Gamliel said. “They’re not just hurting Israel. Nature and animals don’t just belong to one nation. This is a battle that crosses borders.”

Gamliel said that Israel will demand compensation from the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund and the ship’s insurers.

“We will settle the score with the polluters in the name of all Israelis for the harm to our health, nature, animals and view,” she vowed. “We cannot abandon our sea. Our sea is our natural treasure that we must protect.”

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the European Maritime Safety Agency, as well as Israeli maritime research company Windward, helped the Environmental Protection Ministry investigate the oil spill. None of the agencies knew about the oil spill before the tar reached Israeli shores, over two weeks after it occurred.

Samples of the tar, which the Environmental Protection Ministry examined, showed that it came from crude oil, which sharply reduced the number of suspected ships from 35 to four. Two were found to have been too far away, and another was examined by local authorities in Spain and by Israeli investigators in Greece. The fourth is the Emerald, currently in Iran.

European satellites caught the underwater stain on 5th February, but it was not noticed before the tar reached Israel’s beaches.