World
Iranian paramilitary troops seize Portuguese ship with Israeli ties as tensions remain high
Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops seized a Portuguese-flagged ship owned by an Israeli billionaire as tensions between the two nations remain at a high amid continued threats of attack.
“UKMTO has received a report of an incident … northeast of Fujairah, UAE,” the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported. “Vessel reported to have been seized by regional authorities. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.”
The MSC Aries, a Portuguese-flagged ship owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group, was passing through the Strait of Hormuz when an Iranian helicopter dropped IRGC troops onto its deck. Video taken by a crew member shows the troops rappelling down onto a stack of containers while the crew member tells his colleagues “Don’t come out.”
He then tells the other crew members to go to the ship’s bridge while the IRGC commandos set up to take the ship, with one troop kneeling on top of the containers to provide potential cover fire if those on the ship tried to resist as more troops descend to the deck.
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The Associated Press suggested the helicopter could be a Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopter, which both the IRGC and Iran-backed Houthis have used to raid ships across the Red Sea, Sea of Oman and Persian Gulf.
Geneva-based MSC reported that the ship had 25 crew members aboard, and the Iranian state-run IRNA said the IRGC was taking the vessel into Iranian territorial waters.
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The seizure follows a week of increased tensions between Iran and Israel. Tehran has repeatedly sworn to take revenge for the attack on an Iranian consulate in Damascus, which many – including the United States – attributed to Israel even though no Israeli official took credit for the attack.
President Biden on Friday said he believed Iran’s response could happen “sooner than later,” and the U.S. moved some assets closer to Israel to prepare for the possibility of an Iranian attack over the weekend. U.S. CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael Kurilla also moved up his trip to Israel in the face of increased Iranian threats over the past week.
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The IRGC has previously tried to exert control over the Persian Gulf. In 2020, a number of smaller Guard boats harassed American naval ships, using their own ships to try and drive the American ones out of the Gulf.
The IRGC also seized a number of ships in the Gulf, including the 2020 taking of a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker, also near the Strait of Hormuz, which is the pinch point between the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman. That ship was later released, Radio Free Europe reported.
Iran eased off its maritime activities as the Yemen-based Houthis ramped up their own raids on ships throughout the Red Sea, claiming the ships had ties to Israel and helped support Israel’s operations in the Gaza Strip.
Iranian officials usually provided some explanation for seizing a vessel, but so far have offered nothing regarding the MSC Aries other than to note its links to Israel, The Associated Press reported.
World
Hamas delegation due in Cairo on Monday for Gaza ceasefire talks
World
Ukraine's Zelenskyy urges faster US weapon deliveries
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that U.S. weapons have begun to arrive in Ukraine.
- Zelenskyy voiced the urgency of accelerating the process due to advancing Russian forces attempting to exploit the situation.
- He also mentioned the lack of significant positive developments in timely support for the Ukrainian army.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that vital U.S. weapons were starting to arrive in Ukraine in small amounts.
He said that the process needed to move faster.
This is the result of advancing Russian forces trying to take advantage.
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Zelenskyy spoke during a joint news conference in Kyiv alongside visiting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.
During the conference, he said the situation on the battlefield directly depended on the speed of ammunition supplies to Ukraine.
“Timely support for our army. Today I don’t see anything positive on this point yet. There are supplies, they have slightly begun, this process needs to be sped up,” he said.
World
Nine on trial in Germany over alleged far-right coup plot
Nine people charged with terrorism in connection with an alleged far-right plot to topple the German government went on trial on Monday in one of three linked cases.
The trial – which opened on Monday in Stuttgart – is the first to open in relation to the purported conspiracy, which came to light in late 2022. It is focused on those defendants of the Reich Citizens group who allegedly were part of its so-called military arm, German news agency dpa reported.
Federal prosecutors in December filed terrorism charges against a total of 27 people, one of whom has since died.
Nine other suspects, among them a self-styled prince and a former far-right lawmaker, will go on trial on 21 May at a Frankfurt state court in the most prominent of the three cases. The other eight will go on trial in Munich on 18 June.
On trial in the Frankfurt case includes Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, whom the group allegedly planned to install as Germany’s provisional new leader; Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a judge and former lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany party; and a retired paratrooper.
The proceedings of the three cases are expected to last well into 2025.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on public broadcaster ZDF that the trial “shows the strength of our rule of law that the largest terrorist network of Reich Citizens to date… has to answer for its militant plans to overthrow the government.”
Prosecutors have said that the accused believed in a “conglomerate of conspiracy myths,” including Reich Citizens and QAnon ideology, and were convinced that Germany is ruled by a so-called deep state.
Adherents of the Reich Citizens movement, or Reichsbuergerbewegung in German, reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for bringing down the government, while QAnon is a global conspiracy theory with roots in the US.
According to prosecutors, the group planned to storm into the parliament building in Berlin and arrest lawmakers. It allegedly intended to negotiate a post-coup order primarily with Russia, as one of the allied victors of World War II.
The nine defendants at the Stuttgart trial are accused of membership in a terrorist organisation and “preparation of a high treasonous enterprise.” One of the defendants is also on trial for attempted murder, dpa reported.
Most of the nine suspects in the Frankfurt trial are also charged with membership in a terrorist organisation and “preparation of high treasonous undertaking.” The other eight alleged members of the group have been charged in separate indictments at the court in Munich.
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