Drone That Struck Tanker Near Oman Was Launched From Iranian Territory

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM — Israeli and British officials said on Thursday that the Iranian drone that struck an oil tanker associated with an Israeli billionaire off the coast of Oman this week was launched from an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base in Iran.

The BBC quoted a Western official who said the suicide drone was launched from the IRGC’s Air Force regional command in the southeastern city of Chabahar.

An Israeli defense source also told Army Radio that the drone came from Iranian territory, saying, “The Iranians are no longer hiding behind their proxies. They have made a mistake and will not be able to evade [blame] for the action.”

Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, the head of United States Central Command, said in a statement earlier Thursday that Iran was behind the attack.

“This unmanned aerial vehicle attack against a civilian vessel in this critical maritime strait demonstrates, once again, the destabilizing nature of Iranian malign activity in the region,” Kurilla said.

Israeli officials, speaking anonymously to reporters, said Iran carried out the attack with a Shahed-136 loitering munition, also known as a suicide drone.

It is the same type of weapon Iran has supplied to Russia, which has deployed it in the Ukraine war.