New Delhi: Iran on Monday rejected a US claim that it had attacked a chemical tanker in the Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast on December 23 as “baseless”.
Responding to a question about the attack, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry said that the “US accusation is baseless.” The reaction comes a day after the Pentagon said that a drone launched from Iran had struck the vessel in the Indian Ocean.
The incident took place at around 10 am on Saturday, around 200 nautical miles southwest of Veraval and triggered an explosion. No casualty was reported, but it is understood that the vessel sustained some damage in the fire.
In a statement, a Pentagon spokesperson told news agency Reuters that the ship was struck by a one-way attack drone fired from Iran.
“The motor vessel CHEM PLUTO, a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned, and Netherlands-operated chemical tanker was struck at approximately 10 a.m. local time (6 am GMT) today (Saturday) in the Indian Ocean, 200 nautical miles from the coast of India, by a one-way attack drone fired from Iran,” the spokesperson said.
As reported earlier, the Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Vikram escorted Chem Pluto in the Arabian Sea towards Mumbai on Sunday morning and officials told news agency ANI that Dornier aircraft were also airborne to keep an eye on the merchant vessels and carry out surveillance in the area.
Agencies
‘Baseless’: Iran rejects US claim it targeted tanker near India
