US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the US believes that Iran is responsible for attacks that damaged two oil tankers near the Persian Gulf.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington, Sec. Pompeo said that the attacks on the ships are part of a “campaign” of “escalating tension” by Iran and a threat to international peace and security.
Sec. Pompeo said the United States will defend its forces and interests in the region but gave no specifics about any plans and he wouldn’t answer questions on the subject.
Earlier, two oil tankers were hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman and crews evacuated, a month after a similar incident in which four tankers in the region were struck.
One of the ships, the Norwegian-owned Front Altair, was “suspected of being hit by a torpedo”, according to Taiwan’s state-owned petrol company. The ship was on fire, its owners said.
The second tanker, Kokuka Courageous, said its vessel was on fire following a “suspected attack” in the Gulf of Oman while on passage from Saudi Arabia to Singapore, according to Bernhard Schulte Ship management.
The company said the ship was safely afloat.
The tankers were struck in the same area where the US accused Iran of using naval mines to sabotage four other oil ships in an attack last month.
Russia was quick to urge caution, saying no one should rush to conclusions about the incident or use it to put pressure on Tehran, which has denied the US accusations.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world cannot afford a major confrontation in the Persian Gulf region.
The United Nations chief told the UN Security Council he is deeply concerned at the “security incident” in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“I strongly condemn any attack against civilian vessels,” he said. “Facts must be established, and responsibilities clarified.”
Japan’s Trade Ministry said the two vessels had “Japan-related cargo”.
Hiroshige Seko said that all crew members were safely rescued.
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The attacks came as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was wrapping up a two-day trip to Iran with a mission to ease tensions between Tehran and Washington.
Iran’s Foreign Minister tweeted in English that “suspicious doesn’t begin to describe what likely transpired this morning”.
No one has claimed responsibility or explained how the tankers were attacked.
Israeli media referred to attacks as a “massive escalation”.
The US Navy said it was assisting the tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
A US Navy spokesman said: “We are aware of the reported attack on tankers in the Gulf of Oman,” said a statement from the Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain. US naval forces in the region received two separate distress calls at 6.12am local time and a second one at 7am,” the statement said. US Navy ships are in the area and are rendering assistance.”
Iran’s navy rescued 44 crew members from the two oil tankers which caught fire after what was reported as an “accident”, official news agency IRNA reported.
“Forty-four sailors from the two foreign oil tankers which had an accident this morning in the Sea of Oman were saved from the water by the (navy) rescue unit of Hormozgan province and transferred to the port of Bandar-e-Jask,” IRNA quoted an “informed source” as saying.
Benchmark Brent crude oil spiked at one point by as much for per cent in trading following the reported attack, to over $US62 ($A90) a barrel, highlighting how crucial the area remains to global energy supplies.
The attacks were near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping artery for Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and other Gulf energy producers.
“We need to remember that some 30 per cent of the world’s (seaborne) crude oil passes through the straits. If the waters are becoming unsafe, the supply to the entire Western world could be at risk,” said Paolo d’Amico, chairman of INTERTANKO tanker association.
IRAN: ATTACK ON TANKERS ‘SUSPICIOUS’
The latest incident comes after the US alleged that Iran used mines to attack four oil tankers off the nearby Emirati port of Fujairah last month.
Iran has denied being involved, but it comes as Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen also have launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The Iranian foreign minister described the reported attack as suspicious, since it occurred during a meeting between Japan’s prime minister and Iran’s supreme leader.
Mohammad Javad Zarif made the comment in a tweet saying, “Suspicious doesn’t begin to describe what likely transpired this morning.” He didn’t elaborate.
Mr Zarif described the talks between Shinzo Abe and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as “extensive and friendly.”
However, Mr Khamenei said Iran would never negotiate with the US and said that while his country didn’t seek nuclear weapons, “America could not do anything” to stop Iran if it did.
Dryad Global, a maritime intelligence firm, preliminarily identified one of the vessels involved as the MT Front Altair, a Marshall Islands-flagged crude oil tanker.
The vessel was “on fire and adrift,” Dryad Global added.
It did not offer a cause for the incident or mention the second ship.
The firm that operates the Front Altair said that an explosion was the cause of the fire on-board. International Tanker Management declined to comment further saying they are still investigating what caused the explosion. Its crew of 23 is safe after being evacuated by the nearby Hyundai Dubai vessel, it said.
The second vessel was identified as the Kokuka Courageous. BSM Ship Management said it sustained hull damage and 21 sailors had been evacuated, with one suffering minor injuries.
The Japan Shipowners’ Association said one of the two ships attacked is a Panamanian-registered chemical tanker belonging to its Japanese member and was on its way to Singapore and Thailand, not to Japan. It said all 21 Filipino crew members were uninjured, alluding to the Kokuka Courageous.
Japan has set up a task force and informed the shipping industry to use precautions.
A third of all oil traded by sea passes through the strait, which is the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
On Wednesday, after talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Mr Abe warned that any “accidental conflict” that could be sparked amid the heightened US-Iran tensions must be avoided.
His message came just hours after Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked a Saudi airport, striking its arrivals hall before dawn and wounding 26 people on Wednesday.
Tensions have escalated in the Middle East as Iran appears poised to break the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, an accord that the Trump administration pulled out of last year.
Iran’s nuclear deal, reached in 2015 by China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the US, saw Tehran agree to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of crippling sanctions.
Western powers feared Iran’s atomic program could allow it to build nuclear weapons, although Iran long has insisted its program was for peaceful purposes.
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