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U.S. Blames Iran for Attack on Oil Tankers, Video Shows Iranians Removing Unexploded Mine
(Washington Post) Erin Cunningham - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday blamed Iran for a "blatant assault" on two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz and said the U.S. would defend itself and its allies against Iranian aggression in the region. A coordinated attack damaged the hull of a Japanese-owned tanker and struck a Norwegian-owned vessel, which caught fire. The incidents were similar to acts of sabotage against tankers near the UAE port of Fujairah last month. Pompeo said that the U.S. assessment of Iranian involvement is based on intelligence, the type of weapons used and the level of expertise needed, and that no Iranian-backed militia in the region has the resources or proficiency to pull off such a sophisticated operation. "Our policy remains an economic and diplomatic effort to bring Iran back to the negotiating table," Pompeo said. "Iran should meet diplomacy with diplomacy, not with terror, bloodshed and extortion." Senior U.S. officials showed photographs of one damaged tanker with what the Navy identified as a suspected magnetic mine attached to its hull. The unexploded weapon was probably applied by hand from an Iranian fast boat, one official said, and is thought to be the same kind of weapon used to blow a hole elsewhere in the same tanker. The U.S. Central Command released a video showing an Iranian IRGC patrol boat approaching the tanker. The patrol boat "was observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine," said spokesman Capt. Bill Urban. One U.S. official said, "It's clear that there is a pattern of Iranian naval activity in and around commercial shipping lanes that is inconsistent with their prior behavior." He described the Iranian view this way: "If we can't ship oil, no one can."