Unidentified armed individuals have seized a tanker carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday, the vessel's managing company and a U.S. defence official said.
Central Park is managed by Zodiac Maritime Ltd, a London-headquartered international ship management company owned by Israel's Ofer family
Unidentified armed individuals have seized a tanker carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday, the vessel's managing company and a U.S. defence official said.
The incident, involving the chemical tanker Central Park, is the latest in a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since a brutal war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas broke out on Oct. 7.
It followed a seizure of an Israeli-linked cargo ship by Yemen Houthis, allies of Iran, in the southern Red Sea last week. The group, which also fired ballistic missiles and armed drones at Israel, vowed to target more Israeli vessels.
"U.S. and coalition forces are in the vicinity and we are closely monitoring the situation," the U.S. official said.
Central Park, a small chemical tanker (19,998 metric tons), is managed by Zodiac Maritime Ltd, a London-headquartered international ship management company owned by Israel's Ofer family. The Liberian-flagged vessel was built in 2015 and is owned by Clumvez Shipping Inc, LSEG data showed.
Iran's veteran supreme leader and a host of other top figures and Revolutionary Guards commanders have been killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes but the ruling system has maintained its ability to strategise and operate in the war that began on February 28.
An Israeli precision strike hit a residential apartment building in Hazmieh - a predominantly Christian neighborhood east of Beirut - Monday afternoon, killing at least one person in what the IDF described as a targeted hit on a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Al-Quds Force.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he had given orders to postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants for five days, hours ahead of a deadline that threatened further escalation in the conflict now in its fourth week.
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