Iran hints US could be behind ‘suspicious’ tanker attacks

AP Photo/Tasnim News Agency

An Iranian navy boat sprays water to extinguish a fire on an oil tanker in the sea of Oman, Thursday, June 13, 2019.

A damaged Japanese tanker arrived Sunday at a UAE anchorage site with the crew reportedly ‘safe and well’

Iran has gone from accusing the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia of engaging in ‘sabotage diplomacy’ to suggesting that the US itself is responsible for staging the “suspicious” tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman to pile pressure on Tehran, official news agency IRNA reported.

“The suspicious actions against the tankers…seem to complement the economic sanctions against Iran considering that (the US) has not achieved any results from them,” Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani told parliament members.

He backed his claim by saying there had been a precedent “during World War II, when Americans targeted their own ships near Japan to create an excuse for hostility”.

Washington accused Tehran of being behind the attacks, that took place at the same time that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Tehran for talks aimed at defusing tensions between Iran and the United States.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed the US claim as “baseless” and said Washington had “immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran — (without) a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence”.

The Islamic Republic also summoned the United Kingdom’s ambassador to Tehran on Saturday after Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said Iran was almost certainly behind Thursday’s attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

A damaged Japanese tanker arrived Sunday at a UAE anchorage site after it was rocked by explosions in Gulf waters as Saudi Arabia accused arch-rival Iran of being behind the attack.

The crew, who remained on board, were “safe and well”, it said.

A Japanese-owned tanker, the Kokuka Courageous, and a Norwegian-operated one, the Front Altair, were attacked on Thursday and left ablaze as they were passing through the Gulf of Oman.