On 13 April 2024, Iran seized MSC Aries, a Portuguese-registered and Madeira-flagged container ship owned by Gortal Shipping and leased to Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). The ship, with a crew of 25 people, was boarded by Iranian commandos in the Strait of Hormuz, within international waters off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, [1] [2] and taken to Iranian waters, effectively imprisoning the crew. [3] [4]
The United States, United Kingdom, and Portugal (where the ship is registered) called for the ship's release immediately afterwards. [3]
Since 2019, Iran has engaged in heightened naval action against European, American and Israeli shipping, persistently attacking various vessels and seizing ships amidst political issues, [5] [6] dubbed "piracy" by Israeli outlets in 2023. [7] Both the 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas and article 101(1)(a) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) state that piracy occurs on the high seas. Additionally, Article 58(2) of UNCLOS states that piracy can occur in an exclusive economic zone. Violent acts against ships in the territorial sea of any State cannot be piracy under international law. [8] Violent acts in territorial seas are armed robbery under the law of the International Maritime Organization. [9] The event occurred during an escalation between Iran and Israel during the proxy war between Israel and Iran and Hamas. [10] [11] United States president Joe Biden warned Iran not to escalate the situation in the week preceding the incident. [12]
History | |
---|---|
Name | MSC Aries |
Owner | Gortal Shipping |
Operator | Mediterranean Shipping Company |
Port of registry | Portugal |
Completed | 2020 |
Identification | |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 149,525 GT |
Length | 366 m (1,200 ft 9 in) |
Beam | 51 m (167 ft 4 in) |
MSC Aries is a container ship built in 2020. As of 2024 the ship is Portuguese-registered and Madeira-flagged. She has a length of 366 metres (1,200 ft 9 in) and a beam of 51 metres (167 ft 4 in). It has a 149,525 gross tonnage (GT) and a summer tonnage of 158,097 tons deadweight (DWT). [13] The ship is leased by MSC from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, [14] with MSC directing the ship’s activities. [15]
On the morning of 13 April 2024, Iran's Revolutionary Guards boarded and took control of MSC Aries via helicopter, claiming that it had violated maritime law. [14] The seizure of the ship occurred in international waters near the UAE coast. [16] The Israeli foreign minister called the Iranian action an act of international piracy, in alignment with international law. The Iranian military subsequently took the ship and its crew to Iranian waters. [17] The 25 crew members onboard comprised 17 Indians, four Filipinos, two Pakistanis, one Russian and one Estonian national. [18]
On April 27, the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian announced that the 24 remaining crew of MSC Aries being held were given access to their respective consulates, and would be released. [19] [20] On May 3, he announced that the crew was released, but the vessel remained under the control of Iran. [21]
Following the incident, the Israeli foreign minister called on the European Union to sanction the IRGC. [22] Joe Biden shortened his vacation and returned to the White House for "security consultations," and defence secretary Lloyd Austin called the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and said Israel can rely on the United States. [23] On 18 April, 16 shipping associations sent a joint letter to the United Nations requesting every effort to release the captive crew of MSC Aries, and for "enhanced military presence, missions and patrols in the region to protect seafarers". [24]
The Strait of Hormuz is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically important choke points. On the north coast lies Iran, and on the south coast lies the Musandam peninsula, shared by the United Arab Emirates and the Musandam Governorate, an exclave of Oman. The strait is about 90 nautical miles (167 km) long, with a width varying from about 52 nmi (96 km) to 21 nmi (39 km).
Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A, branded as MSC, is an international shipping line founded by Gianluigi Aponte in Italy in 1970. The company is owned by the Aponte family with its headquarters in Switzerland since 1978. It is the world's largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity, controlling about 19.7 percent of the global container ship fleet.
CMA CGM is a French shipping and logistics company founded in 1978 by Jacques Saadé.
Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea affects a number of countries in West Africa as well as the wider international community. By 2011, it had become an issue of global concern. Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea are often part of heavily armed criminal enterprises, who employ violent methods to steal oil cargo. In 2012, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), Oceans Beyond Piracy and the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Program reported that the number of vessels attacks by West African pirates had reached a world high, with 966 seafarers attacked during the year. According to the Control Risks Group, pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea had by mid-November 2013 maintained a steady level of around 100 attempted hijackings in the year, a close second behind the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia occurs in the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel, and Somali Sea, in Somali territorial waters and other surrounding places and has a long and troubled history with different perspectives from different communities. It was initially a threat to international fishing vessels during the early 2000s, only to rapidly escalate and expand to international shipping during the War in Somalia (2006–2009).
Zodiac Maritime Ltd is an international ship management company that owns and charters out large vessels. It is part of Ofer Global based in Monaco and chaired by Eyal Ofer. It has a long-standing business relationship with Mediterranean Shipping Company.
On 13 June 2019, two oil tankers were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz while they transited the Gulf of Oman. The Kokuka Courageous, flagged in Panama and operated by a company based in Japan, and Front Altair, flagged in Marshall Islands and operated by a company based in Norway, were attacked, allegedly with limpet mines or flying objects, sustaining fire damage. American and Iranian military personnel responded and rescued crew members. The attacks took place a month after the similar May 2019 Gulf of Oman incident and on the same day, Iranian Supreme Leader Iran Ali Khamenei met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in Iran. Abe was acting as an intermediary between US President Donald Trump and Khamenei.
International piracy law is international law that is meant to protect against piracy. Throughout history and legal precedents, pirates have been defined as hostis humani generis, Latin for "the enemy of all mankind". The United Nations has codified much of the law in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which defines different types of piracy and ways to combat it.
The Orion class is a series of 8 container ships built for Zodiac Maritime. The first 4 ships are operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and the remaining ships are operated by Ocean Network Express (ONE). The ships were built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea. The ships have a maximum theoretical capacity of 14,952 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
The grey-zone describes the space in between peace and war in which state and non-state actors engage in competition.
On 3 August 2021 the asphalt tanker Asphalt Princess, travelling from Khor Fakkan, the United Arab Emirates, to the Sohar, Oman, was attacked and boarded in the Gulf of Oman. The ship is flagged in Panama. The vessel is owned by Glory International, listed as based in the Emirati free zone.
On 19 April 2022, the Iranian-flagged tanker Lana, with 19 Russian crew members on board, was seized by Greek authorities near the southern island of Evia; this sparked an international incident. Greek authorities had connected Russian sanctions imposed by the European Union after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February to the tanker seizure in Greece.
The Red Sea crisis began on 19 October 2023, when the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen launched missiles and armed drones at Israel, demanding an end to the invasion of the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have since seized and launched aerial attacks against dozens of merchant and naval vessels in the Red Sea, drawing hundreds of air strikes on missile sites and other targets by US and allied forces. The crisis is linked to the Israel–Hamas war, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict, the Iran–United States proxy conflict, and the Yemeni crisis.
Events in the year 2024 in Iran.
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These are timelines of the Red Sea crisis, which began on 19 October 2023.
In 2024, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict escalated to a brief period of direct conflict between the two countries. On 1 April, Israel bombed an Iranian consulate complex in Damascus, Syria, killing multiple senior Iranian officials. In response, Iran and its proxies seized the Israeli-linked ship MSC Aries and launched strikes inside Israel on 13 April. Israel then carried out retaliatory strikes in Iran and Syria on 19 April.
2023 in piracy was marked by 120 events of maritime piracy against ships, according to the annual Piracy and Armed Robbery Report of the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB). 105 vessels were boarded, nine additional attacks attempted, two fired upon, and four vessels hijacked.
2022 in piracy resulted in 115 reports of maritime piracy and armed robbery against ships to the International Maritime Bureau. 288 acts of global piracy and robbery were recorded by the MICA Centre. Piracy had substantially increased in the Gulf of Guinea; the year began with five incidents each month, through March, in the Gulf, where acts of piracy had become heightened during 2015 through 2020, while, overall, piracy incidents declined globally.
2024 in piracy included 33 reports of maritime piracy and armed robbery against ships to the International Maritime Bureau during the first quarter of the year. Incidents included 24 vessels boarded, six of which experienced attempted attacks; two hijacked; and one fired upon. Crew continued to suffer violence, with 35 crew taken hostage, nine kidnapped, and one threatened during three first three months of the year.