Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday directly blamed Iran for a drone attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman that killed two people last week, making a veiled threat to retaliate as Tehran denied being involved in the assault.
The comments by Bennett and Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh come after the strike Thursday night on the oil tanker Mercer Street. The attack marked the first-known fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions with Iran over its tattered nuclear deal.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, Iran and its militia allies have used so-called "suicide" drones in attacks previously.
"The Iranians who attacked with unmanned aircraft the Mercer Street intended to harm an Israeli target," Bennett said at the start of Israel's weekly cabinet meeting. "Instead, their piratical act caused the deaths of a British citizen and a Romanian citizen."
He warned: "We know, at any rate, how to convey the message to Iran in our own way."
On Sunday, Khatibzadeh described the allegation Iran carried out the attack as "baseless" during his last news conference as the Foreign Ministry's spokesman.
"It's not the first time that the Zionist regime occupying Jerusalem has made such empty accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran," Khatibzadeh said. "Wherever this regime has gone, it has taken instability, terror and violence with it."
He added: "Whoever sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind."
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement that he had told Britain's foreign secretary of the need for a tough response to the attack.
"Iran is not just an Israeli problem, but an exporter of terrorism, destruction and instability that harms us all. The world must not be silent in the face of Iranian terrorism that also harms freedom of shipping," Lapid said in the statement.
US Navy explosive experts believe a "drone strike" targeted the vessel, the American military said Saturday.
From Jerusalem, Bennett offered condolences to both the United Kingdom and Romania for the killing of their citizens. He said Israeli intelligence had evidence linking Iran to the attack.
"Iran is the one who carried out the attack against the ship," he said. "Iran's aggressive behavior is dangerous not only for Israel, but harms global interests in the freedom of navigation and international trade."
Lapid also spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday. The US State Department said the two diplomats "agreed to work with the United Kingdom, Romania and other international partners to investigate the facts, provide support and consider the appropriate next steps."
While Iran denied it was behind the attack, it came as Tehran now appears poised to take an even tougher approach with the West as the country prepares to inaugurate new hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi later this week.
State-owned Iranian news network Al-Alam, meanwhile, citing "well-informed sources," said the attack was in response to a reported Israeli airstrike in Syria last week that killed "two resistance men."
An Israeli intelligence official told the New York Times that the timing of the attack could mean that Iran was expanding its maritime operations to respond to such Israeli attacks in Syria.
Lapid also instructed the Israeli embassies in London, Washington and New York to discuss the need for a diplomatic response with the relevant parties in the British and American governments as well as at the United Nations.
Israeli diplomats and emissaries across the globe were instructed to highlight the connection between Raisi's bloody past as a brutal oppressor of his own people and Thursday's deadly attack at sea, in an effort to highlight and expose the nature of the Iranian regime.
Israel also intends to respond militarily, although apparently only at a later date and only after its exhausts the diplomatic course.
Israel has also called for an international investigation into the attack and for the United Nations Security Council to convene on the matter, unnamed Israeli officials told the Walla news portal.
An Israeli official told Israel Hayom that "there will be an Israeli response, military and diplomatic, but it will be carried out in a manner that serves us and not the other side."
A senior Israeli government source said on condition of anonymity Friday evening that "Iran is sowing violence and destruction in every corner of the region. They were so eager to attack an Israeli target that they've embroiled themselves and incriminated themselves in the killing of foreign citizens."
The source said that with a new hard-line Iranian president set to be sworn in, "the masks are coming off and no one can pretend they don't know the character of the Iranian regime."
"Iran isn't just Israel's problem, it is a global problem, and its behavior endangers free global shipping and trade. Our campaign against them will continue," the official said.
The American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher escorted Mercer Street as it headed to a safe port, the US Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet said in a statement early Saturday.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
Mercer Street is managed by London-based Zodiac Maritime, part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Group.
The attack on the cargo ship also came the night after Blinken, speaking from Kuwait, warned Iran that talks in Vienna over the nuclear deal "cannot go on indefinitely."
The attack was the second time this month a ship tied to Ofer apparently has been targeted. In early July, the Liberian-flagged container ship CSAV Tyndall, once tied to Zodiac Maritime, suffered an unexplained explosion on board while in the northern Indian Ocean, according to the US Maritime Administration.
