Ship believed to be base for Iran's Revolutionary Guard attacked: Israel suspected

An Iranian cargo ship anchored for years in the Red Sea near Yemen, which is believed to be a base for the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, has been attacked, Iranian state television reported today, citing foreign media reports.

This state television report, which refers to foreign media, is the first Iranian comment on yesterday's attack on the ship MV Saviz, which is suspected to have been carried out by Israel, according to the AP agency.

The attack took place on the day when Iran and world powers sat down at the table in Vienna for the first negotiations on the possibility of re-entering the US into the nuclear deal with Iran.

The long presence of the ship in the region has been repeatedly criticized by Saudi Arabia, while the West and United Nations experts say that Iran provides weapons and support to the Houthi rebels in Yemen in the long-term war in that country.

Iran denies arming the Houthi rebels, although parts of the rebels' weapons have been linked to that country.

Iran previously told the Saviz ship that it was assisting in anti-piracy operations in the Red Sea and the Bab el Mandeb Strait, a key bottleneck in international maritime traffic.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is believed to be close to the Revolutionary Guards, reported the attack on the ship yesterday, saying that explosives planted in the hull of the Saviz had been activated.

The agency did not blame anyone for the attack, and added that Iranian officials are likely to release more information in the coming days.

In a statement, the American military Central Command only stated that it is aware of the media reports about the incident related to Saviz in the Black Sea and that it confirms that its forces were not involved in that incident.