A container ship owned by an Israeli billionaire was attacked by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean as Israel wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a US defense official said on Saturday.
The attack on the tanker CMA CGM Symi comes on Friday as global shipping finds itself increasingly targeted in a weeks-long war that threatens to spiral into a broader regional conflict — even as a truce halts the fighting and Hamas hostage-trades Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The defense official, who spoke Speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, the Maltese-flagged ship is suspected of being targeted by a Shahed-136 drone carrying a triangle-shaped bomb while in international waters. The drone exploded, damaging the ship without injuring any of its crew.
The official said: “We continue to monitor the situation closely.” The official declined to explain why the US military believed Iran was behind the attack.
Al-Mayadeen, an Arab satellite channel politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group, reported that an Israeli ship was targeted in the Indian Ocean. The channel cited anonymous sources in the report, which was later reported by Iranian media.
CMA CGM, a major shipping company based in Marseille, France, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the ship's crew was acting as if they believed the ship was facing a threat.
The ship's Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracking device has been turned off since Tuesday when it left Dubai's Jebel Ali port, according to MarineTraffic.com data analyzed by the Associated Press .
Ships are supposed to keep their automatic identification system active for safety reasons, but crews will turn it off if it looks like it might be a target. It had done the same thing earlier when it traveled across the Red Sea through Yemen, home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.