Iran media claim Israeli submarine, destroyers in Red Sea as tensions rise

Iranian news portal Nournews, a mouthpiece of the ayatollah regime in Tehran, reported on Monday that an Israeli Dolphin-class submarine with two destroyers escorting it secretly entered the Red Sea last Wednesday, August 4, through the Suez Canal.

NourNews added that the Israeli move detected in the Red Sea was in the wake of “frenzy atmosphere-building over the Israeli oil tanker explosion” in the Sea of Oman.

An Israeli-managed tanker, Mercer Street was hit by what appeared to be Iranian suicide drones on July 29, which the United States and Britain have said were Iranian made from fragments recovered onboard.

Israel immediately blamed Iran for the attack, followed by the United States, the United Kingdom and later by the European Union. The three have said there will be consequences for Iran, while Tehran has warned that it will strongly retaliate against any attack.

The Iranian news site interpreted the alleged naval deployment as being part of Israel’s threat to respond militarily to Tehran’s belligerence in the Persian Gulf, and claimed that the purpose of the move was to raise tensions in the region as a means of swaying public opinion in the US against a nuclear deal with the Islamic republic.

So far, an attempt at the Security Council by the UK has not resulted in any condemnation of Iran and it is not clear if what sort of response, if any, Israel is planning.

The NourNews report goes on to say that others are afraid of Iran’s ability to retaliate. “Western realist experts have come to the conclusion that Iran’s warnings of a firm response to any hostile action are not a verbal threat,” but based on Tehran’s will and capabilities, the website said.


Source: Iran International
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