Iran seizes Israeli-linked container ship (VIDEO)

The seizure came after Tehran promised to deal Israel a “slap in the face”

Iranian commandos have stormed an Israeli-operated container ship in the Persian Gulf and taken control of the vessel. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz condemned the “pirate operation” and called on the West to impose sanctions on Tehran.

The MSC Aries was boarded by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy troops as it transited the Strait of Hormuz around noon on Saturday. Once under the IRGC’s control, it was taken to Iranian territorial waters, Iranian state media reported.

Video footage shared online showed IRGC commandos rappelling onto the deck of the ship from a helicopter.

The Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries is operated by Zodiac Maritime, a shipping firm owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer. At the time of the seizure, it was sailing past the Emirati port of Fujairah with its transponder switched off, the Associated Press reported. With Iran controlling the Strait of Hormuz and Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacking Israeli shipping interests in the Red Sea, it is standard practice for Israeli-linked vessels to disable their tracking data when sailing in the region.

🚨🇮🇷BREAKING: FOOTAGE OF IRAN SEIZING SHIPThe unverified footage shows an Iranian helicopter hovering over the MSC ARIES near the Straits of Hormuz as IRGC troops rappel down ropes to seize the vessel.Source: Times of Israel https://t.co/jn5g7XxPYqpic.twitter.com/u8tydgbQ0E

Since 2019, Iran has periodically seized Israeli and Western vessels in the Strait of Hormuz during times of increased tension. Tehran typically offers legal justification for these seizures, but gave no such explanation on Saturday.

However, Saturday’s seizure came two weeks after an alleged Israeli airstrike on an Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus. The strike killed seven officers of the IRGC’s Quds Force, including two generals.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to deal Israel a “slap in the face” in response, and American officials warned on Friday that Tehran could be gearing up for a massive drone and missile strike on Israeli soil over the weekend. It is unclear whether Iran plans further attacks after seizing the MSC Aries.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz condemned the seizure, accusing Khamenei’s “criminal regime” of “conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law.”

“I call on the European Union and the free world to immediately declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guards corps as a terrorist organization and to sanction Iran now,” he wrote on X.

https://www.rt.com/news/595860-iran-seizes-israel-ship/

US bans Russian metals

Washington and London have limited trading of Russian aluminum, copper, and nickel on their exchanges

Washington has banned the import of Russian-origin aluminum, copper, and nickel into the US, and coordinated with the UK to crack down on the trade of these metals on global exchanges.

The decision will affect metals produced in Russia after April 13, 2024, with the world’s leading commodity exchanges – the London Metal Exchange (LME) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) – set to ban trade in these metals.

The new prohibitions will “continue to target the revenue Russia can earn” to fund its military operation in Ukraine, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a press release on Friday.

The US aims to “reduce Russia’s earnings while protecting our partners and allies from unwanted spillover effects,” Yellen added.

According to Moscow’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, this “unjustified and politicized step” will inevitably backfire.

Washington’s decision is “probably based on calculations that commodity prices will not skyrocket in the US itself,” Antonov said, noting that the US has already reduced its own imports of Russian metals to a minimum.

READ MORE: China tells US it won’t be bullied on Russia

However, with this new “illegal” move, the US administration actually “provokes imbalances on the global markets by involving its satellite states in sanctions,” he added.

Russia will take further steps to work around Western sanctions and diversify its foreign trade, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday on a visit to China. He discussed the “economic gaps” resulting from the “illegal policy of unilateral sanctions,” as well as plans regarding how to tackle them within the framework of BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

https://www.rt.com/business/595843-us-bans-russian-metals/