Seatrade-Maritime: Iran claims to have targeted a second MSC ship

Published by Seatrade-Maritime

Iranian media reports that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have targeted a second MSC vessel.

Iran’s Tasmin News Agency reported following the US firing a Hellfire missile at the engine room of the VLCC Lexie on 2 June it had targeted the MSC Panaya with navy missiles. It described the vessel as belonging to the “American Zionist” enemy which Iran has called MSC in previous attacks on its vessels.

The MSC Panaya is currently berthed in Khalifa Bin Salman port in Bahrain, according to AIS data from Pole Star Global, and the attack has not been confirmed.

Iran also claimed to have targeted the US Fifth fleet headquarters in Bahrain with missiles and drones. US Central Command said the reports were false and all Iranian attacks had failed.

A strike by Iran on the MSC Panaya would be the second in recent days on MSC vessels in retaliation for US strikes on tankers trying to break its blockade of Iranian ports.

The MSC container ship MSC Sariska V was struck by two Iranian projectiles while departing the port of Umm Qasr in Iraq on 1 June. Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy targeted the MSC Sariska V in response to US naval forces disabling the Gambia-flagged Lian Star on 29 May as it attempted to sail towards an Iranian port through the US blockade.

Following the attack MSC issued a statement stressing it was a neutral international carrier had no affiliation with the US or Israel. “Founded by Italian national Captain Gianluigi Aponte, the company is headquartered and domiciled in Switzerland and is wholly owned by his children, Diego and Alexa Aponte, both Italian nationals with no other citizenship.”