


The 25-person crew on board the ship seized by Iran over the weekend is safe, the shipping company said, adding that they are working to secure their release.
Iranian forces repelled from a helicopter onto the MSC Aries ship near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and diverted it to Iranian waters. The shipping company, Mediterranean Shipping Company, said in an announcement on Wednesday that the crew members “are safe and discussions with the Iranian authorities are in progress to secure their earliest release.”
The MSC chartered the ship, owned by Gortal Shipping, which is an affiliate of the shipping company Zodiac Maritime that is partially owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.
U.S. officials condemned Iran’s seizure of the vessel.
“Seizing a civilian vessel without provocation is a blatant violation of international law, and an act of piracy by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson posted on X. “It must be condemned unequivocally, & we will work with our partners to hold Iran to account for its actions.”
The seizure was a prelude to Iran’s unprecedented aerial attack against Israel, which was in response to an Israeli airstrike that killed a senior military leader and others. Tehran launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel, while Israel and a coalition of allies intercepted nearly all of them.
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Iran’s attack had done very limited damage in Israel and only resulted in one casualty, a 7-year-old girl who will recover from her injuries.
Israel is considering how it will respond to the unprecedented attack — because Iran launched it from within its own borders for the first time — while a number of its allies have urged them to show restraint instead of retaliating and threatening to start a full-scale war between itself and Iran.