Liberian 'boat blast' may have been Iranian error over old Israeli ties

A boat reportedly set ablaze while traveling to the UAE from the Saudi port of Jeddah could have been the victim of an erroneous Iranian operation launched due to the vessel's previous Israeli ownership.

A probe into the incident, which was first reported on Saturday, has been started by shipping authorities, The Independent reported on Monday.

News of what was claimed to be a "targeting" with "an unidentified weapon" broke on Saturday, per "reliable sources" speaking with Hezbollah-aligned Lebanese broadcaster Al-Mayadeen.

These sources said: "A fire is burning on an Israeli cargo ship in the northern Indian Ocean". This led early reporting to suggest the vessel had indeed been Israeli.

According to Reuters, no one was wounded.

The boat, which bears the flag of Liberia and is named the CSAV Tyndall, is a cargo vessel. It did formerly have an Israeli stake in it, The Independent said.

The stake belonged to property magnate Eyal Ofer, though he had offloaded his interest months prior to the assault, according to the Hebrew-language paper Maariv.

Shipping specialist Yoruk Isik argued: "Someone is following the ships with some intelligence access".

He explained that nothing about the ship would indicate that it is Israeli. Its staff are all non-Israeli nationals, Isik said, highlighting the fact it was moving between Arab nations.

Isik suggested that an individual involved in the maritime sector "must be feeding information" concerning vessel ownership.

There is some evidence to indicate Iranian or Iran-linked actors may have been involved, working on expired information, presuming claims of a deliberate targeting are correct.

Insiders with the Jewish state have asserted Tehran's culpability, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing the Israeli N12 broadcaster.

In Al-Mayadeen’s initial coverage, the station's sources noted a June targeting of Iran, which The Jerusalem Post said referred to an effort against the Islamic Republic's Atomic Energy Organization.

N12's insiders reportedly said the reference to the nuclear body is a tacit indication that what happened to the Tyndall was revenge for this – despite Al-Mayadeen's sources insisting that nobody had yet come forward to say they were behind what happened.

Should the assault on the Tyndall prove to be linked with Tehran, it would be the latest in the country's tit-for-tat "shadow war" with Tel Aviv.

The two nations have turned the waters into a battleground, repeatedly hitting each other's vessels with explosives.