MARGAO: Concerned Seafarers of Goa have demanded that the Government of India and Goa have to act to ensure that no more ships are held captive by the Iranian Authorities. The demand comes at a time when the escalation between the United States and Iran has reached its epitome.
It may be noted that on January 3, the Major General Iran Qasem Soleimani of Iran’s Al Quds force was killed in a drone missile attack. According to a report from the Washington, DC-based Centre for a New American Security, Iran will most likely continue to harass commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to get the US to stop its “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign.
While Tehran maintains the re-imposed US sanctions are not hurting its economy, the International Monetary Fund projected the country’s economy shrank in 2019.
Iran has in the past seized and arrested several merchant ships during last year. With the successor to slain Iranian General vowing ‘revenge’ the escalation is only going to increase now, says one of the seafarers.
The spokesperson of the Goa Seamen Association of India, Dixon Vaz, said, “With the recent US Drone attack on Iranian General Soleimani who was killed, there could be more attacks on merchant vessels in the area, the Indian government must take steps to ensure that no more ships are held captive by the Iranian authorities.”
