Iran condemns 'sabotage' of ship in Mediterranean
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Iran condemned the attack as "a flagrant violation of international law and maritime law"
Iran on Saturday denounced an attack on Iranian ship as "sabotage". The ship named Shahr-e-Kord was hit with "an explosive device" while it was en route from Iran to Europe on Wednesday, as per spokesperson of Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines group (IRISL) which owns the ship.
Iran "received information confirming that the ship suffered a sabotage attack", foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement.
Khatibzadeh confirmed that the incident "caused damage to the vessel". He did not elaborate on type and extent of the damage.
He condemned the attack as "a flagrant violation of international law and maritime law".
IRISL called the incident a "terrorist action and an example of maritime piracy".
"A small fire started where the explosion had occurred, but it was quickly extinguished... and none of the crew were hurt," he said.
Khatibzadeh said Tehran was following up on the incident to "identify the perpetrators".
The ship was struck less than two weeks after Israel accused arch nemesis Iran of being behind an attack on an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman, charges Tehran has strongly denied.
The United States blacklisted IRISL in mid-2020 over what the State Department described as the transportation of items related to Iran's missile and nuclear programme.