The attacks on two oil tankers off the Gulf of Oman were committed by covert American and Israeli intelligence services as part of their attempts to incite a war against Iran, a senior member of the Iranian government has said, while the Japanese owners of one of the tankers has accused the US Government of spreading “false information” about the incident.
Advisor to the Iranian Parliament Speaker Hossein Amir Abdollahian, as quoted by the Iranian Fars News Agency, said that “American and Israeli intelligence services are the main suspects behind the Thursday attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman,” and added that “Saudia Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain are worsening the situation in the region.”
“The US intelligence services and Mossad are the main suspects of targeting the security of oil exports in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman,” Abdollahian said, adding, “The idiocy of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirate, and Bahrain has also fanned the flame in the region.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, by strongly defending its national interests and supporting the stability of the region, will disappoint the enemies and drive back the White House,” the official stressed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in a post on his Twitter page on Friday, reminded his readers that the “famous anti-Iran group of Bolton, Netanyahu, bin Salman and bin Zayed Al Nahyan are sabotaging diplomacy to push the US further increase its hostilities against Tehran,” and that recent allegations by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are part of the same campaign.
In another tweet on Thursday, Zarif said the attack on two tankers in the Sea of Oman amid a landmark visit by the Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo to Iran was suspicions, calling for the promotion of dialogue among regional countries.
Taking to his official Twitter page on Thursday, hours after the attacks occurred, Iran’s top diplomat said, “Suspicious doesn’t begin to describe what likely transpired this morning.”
Highlighting the fact that attacked tankers were bound for Japan, Zarif noted, “Reported attacks on Japan-related tankers occurred while PM @AbeShinzo was meeting with Ayatollah @khamenei_ir for extensive and friendly talks.”
All crew members from the two oil tankers were saved by Iranian rescue teams on Thursday. Iranian rescue vessels have picked up the 23 crew members of one of the tankers and 21 of the other from the sea and brought them to safety at Iran’s Jask, in the Southern Hormozgan Province.
Meanwhile, the Japanese owner of one of the tankers, the Kokuka Courageous, has openly accused the Trump administration of providing “false” information about Gulf of Oman attack.
Yutaka Katada, chief executive of the Japanese company operating the Kokuka Courageous, said the damage could not have been caused by mines or torpedos that are shot underwater, since the damage was reportedly above the ship’s waterline.
The ship operator said “flying objects” that may have been bullets were the cause of damage to the vessel, rather than mines used by Iranian forces, as the US has suggested.
“It seems that something flew towards them. That created the hole, is the report I’ve received,” Katada said at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday, the Financial Times reported. Katada also described reports of a mine attack as “false.”
That account contradicts what the U.S. military said as it released a video Friday which it claimed showed Iranian forces removing an “unexploded limpet mine” from one of the two ships that were hit. The video is in fact very indistinct and actualy shows nothing to support the allegation.
