Seventeen Indians are on board an Israeli-linked container ship that has been seized by the Iranian military amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel.

India is tapping diplomatic channels with Iran to secure the early release of the 17 Indians on board the MSC Aries, which was seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRG) on Saturday morning while it was sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Sources said India was in touch with the Iranian authorities through diplomatic channels, both in Tehran and in Delhi, to ensure the security, welfare and early release of the Indian nationals. There was no official word from the external affairs ministry on the seizure of the India-bound vessel or the efforts to secure the release of the Indians.

Tasneem News Agency, associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said the container ship had been seized because of its association with the "Israeli regime". The Portuguese flag-bearing vessel is connected to the London-based company, Zodiac Maritime, partly owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer.

The Jerusalem Post quoted a statement from the Zodiac Maritime Shipping Company that said: "MSC is responsible for all vessel activities, including cargo operations and maintenance. Title to the vessel is held by Gortal Shipping Inc as a financier and she has been leased to MSC on a long-term basis. Gortal Shipping Inc is affiliated with Zodiac Maritime."

The vessel, which had set sail from Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Port on Friday, was bound for the Nhava Sheva Port (also known as Jawaharlal Nehru Port) in Navi Mumbai. According to marinetraffic.com — a website that provides real-time information on the movement of ships — the vessel was to reach Nhava Sheva in the early hours of April 16.

A video shared by Tasneem News shows the IRGC troops rappelling down to the vessel from a helicopter. Iran’s state news agency, Irna, said the ship was being transported to Iranian waters.

The seizure of the ship comes amid heightenedtensions between Iran and Israel over the Israeli bombing of the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus on April 1.

The Israeli war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip is now six months old and is inflaming decades-old tensions across the whole region.

With Iranian-backed forces like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen’s Houthi rebels also involved in the fighting, any new attack in West Asia threatens to escalate that conflict into a wider regional war.

The Irna news agency said a special forces unit of the Guard’s navy had carried out the attack on the vessel.

Zodiac Maritime is part of Ofer’s Zodiac Group. Zodiac declined to comment and referred questions to MSC, which did not immediately respond.

Earlier, a West Asia defence official, who sought anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, shared a video of the attack with the Associated Press.

In it, the Iranian commandos are seen rappelling down onto a stack of containerssitting on the deck of the vessel.

A crew member on the ship can be heard saying: “Don’t come out.”

He then tells his colleagues to go to the ship’s bridge as more commandos descend on the deck.

One commando can be seen kneeling above the others to provide them with potential cover fire.

The video corresponded with known details of the MSC Aries. The helicopter used also appeared to be a Soviet-era Mil Mi-17 helicopter, which both the Guard and the Iranian-backed Houthis of Yemen have used in the past to conduct commando raids on ships.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations described the vessel as being “seized by regional authorities” in the Gulf of Oman off the Emirati port city of Fujairah, without elaborating.

The MSC Aries had been last located off Dubai heading towards the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. The ship had turned off its tracking data, which has been common for Israeli-affiliated ships moving through the region.

Since 2019, Iran has engaged in a series of ship seizures. Attacks on vessels have been attributed to Tehran amid ongoing tensions with the West over Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme.

In previous seizures, Iran had offered initial explanations of its operations that made it appear as thoughthey had nothing to do with wider geopolitical tensions — but later acknowledged as much.

Iran has, however, offered no explanation of Saturday’s seizure other than saying the MSC Aries had links to Israel.

For days, Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have been threatening to “slap” Israel for the Syria strike. Western governments have issued warnings to their citizens in the region to be prepared for attacks.

Iran had in the past largely avoided directly attacking Israel, despite it carrying out the targeted killings of nuclear scientists and multiple sabotage campaigns against Iran’s atomic sites.

Iran has, however, targeted Israeli or Jewish-linked sites through proxy forces over the decades.

Earlier this week, Guard General Ali Reza Tangsiri, who oversees the organisation’s naval forces, criticised the presence of Israelis in the region, particularly in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE reached a diplomatic recognition deal with Israel in 2020, something that enraged Tehran.

“We know that bringing Zionists in this point is not merely for economic work,” Tangsiri reportedly said. “Now, they are carrying out security and military jobs, indeed. This is a threat, and this should not happen.”

The US, Israel’s main backer, has stood by the country despite growing concerns over Israel’s war on Gaza killing more than 33,600 Palestinians and wounding over 76,200 more.

Israel’s war began after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage.

On Friday, President Joe Biden warned Iran not to attack Israel and said he felt an Iranian attack on Israel was likely to happen “sooner than later”.

“We will help defend Israel, and Iran will not succeed,” Biden added.

The Gulf of Oman is near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all globally traded oil passes. Fujairah, on the UAE’s eastern coast, is the main port in the region for ships to take on new oil cargo, pick up supplies or trade out crew.

Since 2019, the waters off Fujairah have seen a series of explosions and hijackings. The US Navy blamed Iran for limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers.

The UAE has sought to mend ties with Iran and issued a statement condemning the suspected Israeli attack in Syria.

AP/PTI with additional inputs from Our Bureau