Nearly 1,000 ships have experienced “persistent and sometimes severe” GPS signal jams every day the past week near Iran as the country continues to face bombardment from Israel’s military, a French naval monitoring firm warned Friday.
The Maritime Information, Cooperation and Awareness (MICA) Center wrote in a post on the social platform X that the situation “makes it harder to navigate safely at night, in poor visibility and/or when traffic density is heavy.”
“[It] also can lead to accidental situations,” the group wrote.
The MICA Center said it’s possible the GPS issue may have contributed to the recent collision of two giant tankers, ADALYNN and Front Eagle, in the Gulf of Oman near the United Arab Emirates, but the organization cautioned that the crash remains under investigation.
Israel and Iran have been exchanging strikes for the past week, after Israel launched a surprise attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities and military sites.
The MICA center noted that maritime trade was not being targeted in an analysis of the military conflict’s impact on Wednesday.
“In spite of the media narrative of a potential blockade … there is no information pointing towards a blockade,” the group wrote.
It urged ships to avoid Iranian territorial waters and be aware of potential GPS jamming.
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