Iranians Recover New iPhones Floating In Strait Of Hormuz After Ship Sinks
Along the Persian Gulf coastline in Iran, the soundtrack is usually bandari, the hand-clapping and drum-driven folk music that spills from the wooden boats as fishermen set out at dawn.
This week, however, the men set sail for a very different kind of catch.
According to Telegraph report, Hundreds of them, in skiffs and salvage boats, fanned out across the warm waters of the Strait of Hormuz to fish for iPhones, French perfume and other cargo that had spilt overboard from the GFS Pride, which sank on Oct 14.
“We are gathering and heading towards the Strait of Hormuz,” one man said in a video. “We heard a container ship sank, so we’re going to collect iPhones and perfume.”
Singapore, where the ship was flagged, said it had sunk after a fire broke out on board. All 21 crew members were evacuated without injury.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy said the ship had strayed on to an “unauthorised and dangerous” route and struck a sea mine, triggering a blaze that sent it under with more than 2,500 containers on board.
Although Iran has struck scores of ships since the war began in late February, almost none have sunk.
The GFS Pride was the second to go down within 24 hours and only the third of the war, after the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Cape Dao, lost to an attack on Sept 23.
Footage showed dozens of boats threading between half-submerged containers, with men hauling boxes from the swell. In one clip, a single small boat strains to tow a full-size shipping container behind it.
The IRGC’s attacks on shipping in and around the strait have surged in recent days to their highest tempo since the war began. Its navy, even as it warns ships away, has urged local fishermen to steer carefully around the containers drifting on the surface.
‘If America Leaves, The Strait Will Open’
On Friday, Iran tied any reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to a US withdrawal from the region, with Brig Gen Mohammad Akraminia, the army spokesman, warning that Iranian forces would drive out US troops if they stayed.
He said: “If America leaves the region, the Strait of Hormuz will open, collective security will be established with the participation of regional states, and the global economy will improve. And if it does not leave, we will expel it.”
Brig Gen Akraminia blamed the US for the insecurity east of the strait and urged shipowners to use a corridor designated by Iran’s armed forces, claiming vessels that did so would be safe.
Separately, Iran’s regular navy said on Friday it had “monitored” a fire aboard a “violating tanker” in the Gulf of Oman that had switched off its tracking systems and tried to cross a “prohibited zone”.
