Iran calls US accusation it is behind attacks on two oil tankers ‘unfounded’
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Iran says it “categorically rejects” US claims that it is behind attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had earlier blamed Iran for the “unprovoked attacks” on Thursday. Pompeo said that the US had made its assessment based on intelligence about the type of weapons used.
The US military’s Central Command released a video it says shows Iran’s Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded limpet mine from the side of the Kokuka Courageous following the blasts.
A U.S. official told Fox News an Iranian gunboat approached the Kokuka Courageous later in the day and removed the unexploded triangular-shaped limpet mine, the same type of mine used to damage four other tankers in the Gulf of Oman last month.
The official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive information, said the suspected Iranian vessel did not bear any flags, nor did the crew members wear any uniforms.
But, the class of vessel, what the U.S. military has called a fast inshore attack craft (FIAC), was the same type of ship used by Iran to harass American warships in the Persian Gulf in recent years.
Other Iranian small boats have remained near the stricken oil tanker since the attack early Thursday, the official added.
But Iran dismissed the claim as “unfounded”. A senior Iranian official had earlier told the BBC that “Iran has no connection” with the explosions.
Dozens of crew members were rescued after the blasts on the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous and the Front Altair, owned by a Norwegian company.
In a statement released on Friday, the Iranian mission to the United Nations said: “Iran categorically rejects the US unfounded claim with regard to 13 June oil tanker incidents, and condemns it in the strongest possible terms.”
The blasts come a month after four oil tankers were damaged in an unclaimed attack off the United Arab Emirates. The US at the time blamed Iran – but Tehran denied the accusations.
Oil prices jumped as much as 4% after Thursday’s incident in the Gulf of Oman, which lies at one end of a vital shipping lane through which hundreds of millions of dollars of oil pass.
