Iran ship in Red Sea blast, suspicion falls on Israel

An Iranian freighter was hit by an "explosion" in the Red Sea, Tehran said on Wednesday after US media reported Israel had struck the ship in retaliation for past Iranian strikes on its vessels.

An Iranian freighter was hit by an "explosion" in the Red Sea, Tehran said on Wednesday after US media reported Israel had struck the ship in retaliation for past Iranian strikes on its vessels. Iran was at pains to stress that the freighter was a civilian ship, although other sources said it had been used by Iranian commandos as a base for shipping protection and other duties in the area. The explosion comes at a sensitive time as US President Joe Biden attempts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran which was strongly opposed by Israel and abandoned by his predecessor Donald Trump in 2018.