The more time passes since recent attacks on western-owned ships, the more fingers are pointing at Iran and its ayatollah regime as responsible. Meanwhile, there is growing demand that Iran be forced to pay a price.

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One of these voices is Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp, formerly of the British Army, who is calling for a harsh response to Iran.

In an interview to Israel Hayom, Kemp says that nations "keeping their head down" when it comes to Iran, or demonstrating weakness, is merely "asking for trouble."

This approach, Kemp says, will only lead to increased aggression. The only way to win, he say, is to increase the advantage against Iran.

Kemp served for nearly 30 years in the British Army, starting as an infantry solider and earning promotion until he was put in charge of the British forces in Afghanistan in 2003. He then joined the committee that supervised the country's intelligence services. He was discharged in 2006.

Kemp thinks that western nations could respond to the deaths of a British and a Romanian citizen in the attack on the Israeli-operated Mercer Street ship off the coast of Oman in a few different ways. He says the most "appropriate" would be to send in special forces or carry out airstrikes against the parties responsible for the attack on the vessel, or against drone manufacturing facilities.

A cyber action would also be a possibility, he says.

Approximately a week ago, chief of the British Defense Staff Gen. Nick Carter was asked about the issue in an interview to the BBC, and he said that "ultimately, we have got to restore deterrence."

Kemp says that "restoring deterrence" does not mean summoning ambassadors to making stringent statements at the UN, or even applying sanctions – it means a "military action to prevent future attacks by the ayatollahs."

In that context, Kemp says that no matter what decision is taken about a response, it needs to be stronger than the Iranian attack on the Mercer Street, and be executed quickly. "It will require specific intelligence, and there's no doubt Israel can help," he points out.

However, Kemp is unsure that Britain will take the lead in any action against the Iranian regime or new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. He says that in the 2000s, he took part in meetings with British government functionaries to weigh how to respond to a few cases of British soldiers being murdered in Iraq by proxy forces that were deployed and armed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

"I recommended a military response against them, inside Iran. Instead, fingers were pointed at Iranian diplomats, and the killing continued," Kemp says.

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Syrian media reported a major explosion and a fire on civilian ship docked at Latakia Port on the country's northwest coast on Tuesday afternoon.

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Syrian state TV reported that firefighters had the fire under control and that two people had suffered minor injuries in the incident. The SANA news agency quoted port director Amjad Suleiman saying that the ship had docked for maintenance work and was empty at the time of the blast.

Alarabiya TV journalist Ziad Halabi reported that the ship was an Iranian oil tanker that had docked in Latakia a few days ago.

The Syrian Human Rights Observatory reported that the explosion had caused a number of wounded and extensive damage to the vessel.

Thus far, there were no claims that the explosion or the fire had been the result of sabotage.

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An Israeli-owned merchant ship reportedly came under attack off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea, the British military said Friday, offering few other details about the incident.

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The cargo ship Mercer Street is a Japanese-built vessel operated by the Zodiac Maritime company.

Israeli officials did not immediately acknowledge the incident, but it comes amid heightened tensions between it and Iran as negotiations remain stalled over Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. Other Israeli ships have been targeted in recent months as well amid a shadow war between the two nations, with Israeli officials blaming the Islamic Republic for the assaults.

An brief initial statement from the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said an investigation was underway into the incident, which it described as happening late Thursday night just northeast of the Omani island of Masirah. The location is over 300 kilometers (185 miles) southeast of Oman's capital, Muscat.

The statement did not elaborate, other to say that it suspected the attack did not involve piracy. Earlier on Thursday, the British military group had said it was investigating another unexplained incident in the same area, but it did not elaborate.

Later Friday, the British Defense Ministry identified the nationality of the ship's owners, but did not elaborate further.

Oman did not immediately acknowledge an attack and officials there did not respond to requests for comment. The US Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the Mideast, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions over Iran's tattered nuclear deal and as negotiations over restoring the accord have stalled in Vienna. Since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, there have been a series of ship attacks in the region suspected to have been carried out by Tehran.

Iranian media did not immediately acknowledge the attack Friday.

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Sri Lanka was facing what a senior environmental official called "the worst beach pollution in our history" as a burning container ship continued on Monday to spill plastic debris into the sea off the capital, Colombo.

The Sri Lankan navy believes the fire was caused by chemicals being transported on the Singapore-flagged ship. It was carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tons of nitric acid and other chemicals that were loaded at the port of Hazira, India, on May 15. The fire has destroyed most of the ship's cargo.

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Debris – including several tons of plastic pellets used to make plastic bags – from the burning ship has washed ashore and is causing severe pollution on beaches. The government has banned fishing along about 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the coast.

Authorities have also warned residents not to touch the debris because it could be contaminated with harmful chemicals. The government's Marine Environment Protection Authority says chemicals have mixed with the seawater and could cause severe damage to marine species and coral reefs.

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The 90 meter-long Zelek Star was carrying cement and other goods from Greece to Israel when it was swept away and approached Oranim Beach, officials said. The beach's sandy Mediterranean shoreline is popular with residents and tourists.

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Photos showed locals walking along the beach with the 14 meter-high vessel towering over them in the background, abutting a stone sea wall as shallow waves crashed onto its red exterior.

Captain Yigal Maor, manager of Israel's Shipping and Ports Authority, said there were 12 crewmen onboard the vessel but that it was the responsibility of the ship's owners to ensure their safety.

The ship carries a Panamanian flag and is owned by Turkey-based Fuden Shipping & Trading, according to the website maritime-connector.com. The company could not be reached for comment.

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The cargo ship, "Artenos," set sail from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in the country's south on Oct. 6 and crossed the Suez Canal on Oct. 14, arriving in Syria at 2 a.m. Thursday morning.

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The company allegedly operating the Iranian ship, Omid Darya, is currently placed on a sanctions list by the US Treasury Department for supposedly providing maritime services to the Iranian government.

Could the reported attack on an Iranian-owned oil tanker be a false flag? 'Impossible to tell at this point,' @AcrossTheBay tells @DerrickeDennis, but 'not out of the question that #Iran would use this as a pretext for something ugly.': pic.twitter.com/wffqWYp5kz

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 12, 2019

Bandar Abbas port is known as a commercial hub for the shipping of advanced technologies and is considered an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps stronghold.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

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Earlier reports had said the tanker, named the Front Altair, was carrying 75,000 tons of naphtha, a flammable liquid hydrocarbon.

Meanwhile, a Frontline company spokesman denied the Iranian reports, saying the Front Altair was still afloat.

"There are pictures from a salvage vessel that is circling the ship, and the vessel hasn't sunk," said company spokesman Pat Adamson, citing the most recent information received from the ship's technical management.

Iranian search and rescue teams reportedly picked up 44 sailors from the Front Altair and another damaged tanker, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported, citing an unnamed informed source.

The sailors were taken to the Iranian port of Jask, IRNA reported.

Twenty-three crew on the Front Altair, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker heading from Qatar to Taiwan, abandoned ship when a fire broke out approximately 25 miles from Jask.

The second tanker was a Panama-flagged ship, named Kokuka Courageous, heading from a port in Saudi Arabia toward Singapore when a fire broke out approximately 28 miles from Jask.

Twenty-one crewmen abandoned that ship and were picked up by Iranian search and rescue teams, IRNA reported.

Oil prices jumped as much as 4% on Thursday after the suspected attack.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the suspected attacks "suspicious" and called for regional dialogue to avoid tensions.

Zarif tweeted that "reported attacks on Japan-related" oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman had taken place while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was meeting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei "for extensive and friendly talks".

"Suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning," he tweeted. "Iran's proposed Regional Dialogue Forum is imperative."

The US Navy's 5th Fleet said earlier that it was assisting the Front Altair and Kokuka Courageous, as they were under apparent attack in the Gulf, which connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, a major strategic waterway through which a fifth of global oil consumption passes from Middle East producers.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, part of the Royal Navy, said it was aware of an incident in the Gulf of Oman.

"The UK and its partners are currently investigating," the group said without elaborating.

One shipping broker said there had been an explosion "suspected from an outside attack" that may have involved a magnetic mine on the Kokuka.

Another source said the Front Altair reported a fire caused by a "surface attack" and that the crew had been picked up by nearby vessel Hyundai Dubai.

There was no immediate confirmation of the incident from authorities in Oman or the United Arab Emirates, in whose territorial waters four tankers were hit last month.

The UAE had said that the May 12 attacks on four vessels off the coast of Fujairah, a main bunkering hub, were likely caused by limpet mines and bore the hallmarks of an operation, most likely by a state actor.

Saudi Arabia's envoy to the United Nations blamed Iran. Tehran has denied any involvement.

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