The Saudi Arabian Navy has captured three members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps after seizing an Iranian boat last week.
The Saudi government is claiming that members on board the vessel approached its offshore oil field Marjan with the intent of carrying out a terrorist act, Reuters reports.
“This was one of three vessels which were intercepted by Saudi forces. It was captured with the three men on board, the other two escaped,” the Saudi information ministry said Monday.
There were apparently explosives on the vessel.
While the Saudi Press Agency stated that the Navy fired warning shots to ward off the vessels, Iranian media has a different picture of the events. State-run Tasnim News stated that Saudi Arabia fired on a fishing boat that had been forced by the waves into the area.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stresses its determination to combat and eradicate terrorism and its sources, as a part of the country’s permanent objective to protect its national security against any external aggression,” an official source told the Saudi Press Agency.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab governments cut ties with Qatar June 5, claiming among other things that the country is supporting Iran. Following the break in diplomatic relations, Iran’s capital suffered an attack on its parliament building. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps immediately blamed Saudi Arabia for backing the Islamic State in the assault, which was the first time ISIS had ever hit Iran.
As such, relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran are at a low point.
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