Sources in the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, speaking during a closed-door session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that Israel was involved in a US-led naval mission protecting ships in the Strait of Hormuz after a number of ships were recently seized by Iran.
Katz reportedly said that Jerusalem is providing intelligence and other unspecified operations in the Persian Gulf, adding that he instructed members of the Foreign Ministry to provide said assistance following a recent visit to the United Arab Emirates.
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A source from Abu Dhabi told Israeli media that the US mission was launched in order to tackle the emerging "Iranian threat" that has disrupted trade in the region.
Katz also praised the UK for agreeing to join the US-led mission following an announcement from London on Monday.
Britain is the only country to officially announce that it was joining the US naval mission. London seeks to protect maritime vessels transporting goods through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Strait of Hormuz is the world's single most important oil passageway. About 20% of global oil shipments pass via the Strait and in 2018 that amounted to 17.4 million barrels a day.
The Trump administration has struggled to cobble together an international force to join in the mission as allies fear being dragged into a larger conflict with the Islamic republic.
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper was optimistic that other countries would join the operation soon, saying that the Trump administration has received "various degrees of response" and expecting "there'll be some announcements coming out in the coming days."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged the US to return to negotiations on Tuesday, saying that "peace with Iran is the mother of all peace" and "war with Iran is the mother of all wars" as he defended a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
On Sunday, Iranian state media reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a "foreign vessel" in the Gulf and arrested seven crew members on board.
The Guards previously seized a British-flagged tanker, the Stena Impero on July 19 in apparent retaliation for the seizure of an Iranian tanker in the Mediterranean Sea on July 4 by the UK Royal Marines off the coast of Gibraltar.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS.
