Netanyahu: World needs to back U.S. in Gulf of Oman incident

The international community should support the US in efforts to halt Iranian aggression in international waterways, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, in his first comments about last week’s developments in the Gulf of Oman.

“All peace seeking nations need to support the efforts of the United States and President Trump to stop this dangerous [Iranian] aggression and to ensure freedom of navigation in international waterways,” he said.

His comments came at the ceremony on the Golan Heights to mark the naming of a future community there as “Ramat Trump,” after the US president.

Two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, in attacks that Washington said Iran was responsible for. The Iranians have denied any involvement.

Netanyahu’s silence for four days on the matter – he generally is not reticent to speak out against Iran – was widely believed to be due to not wanting to be seen as somehow pushing the US into a military confrontation with Tehran.