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A missile accidentally hit an Iranian warship during naval exercises, killing 19 sailors, according to official media and the army, yesterday, at a time when the tension between the Islamic Republic and the United States over the Gulf waters. The accident that hit the “Kanark” ship near Bandar Jask, off the southern coast of Iran, according to official television reported on its website. The channel reported that “the ship was hit after moving a training target to its designated location without leaving enough distance between it and the target.” In turn, the armed forces announced in a statement that 19 crew members had been killed and 15 wounded. He claimed that “Kanark” was subjected to an “accident” during the exercises, without providing further details. He added that the ship was towed to shore for “technical investigations,” and asked people to “avoid speculation” until new information is released. In turn, the agency “Tasnim” reported in an English tweet that “Kanark” was hit by a missile fired by another Iranian warship. She said the ship came under “friendly fire” after a Jamaican two-wave frigate accidentally fired a missile during live-fire training in the Jask region in the Gulf waters. The director of the Sistan and Baluchestan Medical University, Muhammad Mahran Aminfard, said the 15 patients had been transferred to a provincial hospital. He told the semi-official ISNA news agency that two sailors had been transferred to the intensive care unit. In two separate statements, the head of the Iranian army and the chancellor offered their condolences to the families of the sailors. “Kanark” is reported to be a light logistical support ship manufactured in the Netherlands and purchased by Iran before the Islamic Revolution in 1979. According to official television, it weighed 447 tons and 47 meters in length and was equipped with four missiles from cruise. It was not immediately clear how many crew members were on the ship when the accident occurred. The United States and Iran exchanged accusations over the past year over a series of incidents involving their forces in Gulf waters. The last meeting at sea between them occurred on April 15, when the United States announced that Iranian ships had “harassed” US Navy ships in the Gulf. The order prompted the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to publish a tweet in which he said that he had ordered the United States Navy “to shoot all Iranian warships and destroy them if our ships were offended at sea” . Iranian President Hassan Rouhani responded by saying that Washington should stop “conspiring” against Iran, adding that the Islamic Republic “has been protecting this waterway for thousands of years.” The accident occurred near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a third of the world’s oil transported by sea passes. And the tension that occurred last year between Iran and the United States witnessed attacks on ships, shooting down drones and confiscating oil tankers in the strait. In July 2019, Iranian Revolutionary Guards detained Swedish airline Stina Impero, flying the British flag, for two months, accusing it of ignoring distress calls and stopping its transmitter after hitting a fishing boat. Last year, the Revolutionary Guards detained at least six other ships on suspicion of smuggling oil. Tensions have increased since 2018, when the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran and re-imposed severe sanctions on its economy. The Iranian armed forces accidentally launched a missile in January, which hit a Ukrainian airliner shortly after Tehran took off on its way to Kiev, killing 176 people on board. The Iranian army admitted the catastrophic mistake and said Iran’s air defenses were on high alert after a series of missiles were fired at two bases that were hosting US soldiers in Iraq. At that time, Iran launched the missiles in response to the assassination of the leader of the Revolutionary Guard, General Qassem Soleimani, from an attack by a drone a few days ago.
