Israel Threatens to Attack Iran Alone

TEL AVIV – Israel threatened to attack Iran alone in response to an attack drone deadly against the tanker Mercer Street.

Tel Aviv, Washington and London have all accused Tehran of being behind the attack on the tanker run by the Israeli company. Two people died when an explosive drone hit the tanker off the coast of Oman last week.

Also read: Enemy heats up, Iran threatens to counter US, UK and Israel

The Israeli threat to attack Iran alone was made by Prime Minister (PM) Naftali Bennett. He warned that there was a price for those who threatened the Jewish state and declared that Israel was fully capable of unilaterally defending itself against Tehran.

“We work to rally the world, but at the same time we also know to act alone,” he said Reuters, Wednesday (4/8/2021).

“Iran already knows the price we have to pay when someone threatens our security. The Iranian people need to understand that it is impossible to sit quietly in Tehran and light up the whole Middle East from there. It’s over,” he said.

Bennett’s comments came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday warned of a collective or gang response following the attack on the tanker Mercer Street.

In a statement on Sunday, Blinken said the US believed Iran was the culprit and had used a one-way explosive drone.

Also read: US vows to respond to Iran over Israeli-managed tanker attack

The British Foreign Office also released a notice stating the attack was intentional, targeted and a clear violation of international law by Iran.

Tehran has denied responsibility, and denounced its alleged involvement as “wrong” and “contradictory”.

The attack on the tanker MV Mercer Street was not an isolated event, but part of the ongoing maritime tensions between Israel and Iran. Tehran has accused Tel Aviv of targeting Iranian oil tankers in a drone strike off the Syrian coast in late April.

Prior to that, two tankers, one belonging to a Norwegian company and the other a Japanese one, were attacked on June 13, 2019 in the Gulf of Oman, in which then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Iran was the culprit. Another similar attack occurred in early May, when four oil tankers, including two Saudi Arabian ones, were attacked.

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