Commenting on a 26 February explosion on an Israeli-owned vessel in the Gulf of Oman, Prime Minister Netanyahu contended that “this was indeed an operation by Iran”, while asserting: “Iran is Israel’s biggest enemy. I am determined to fend it off. We are striking at it all over the region”. Iran’s diplomatic spokesperson denied any involvement in the incident, adding: “the security of the Persian Gulf is extremely important for Iran and we will not allow them to spread fear in the region by such accusations”. He further noted that Iran was “monitoring all the actions made by the [Israeli] regime in security zone of Iran in the past few months, and we will give a response where it happens”.