Tanker attacks fuel tensions
THE US sought yesterday to bolster its case for isolating Iran over its nuclear and regional activities by showing limpet mine fragments it said came from a damaged oil tanker and saying the ordnance looked Iranian in origin.
The Islamic Republic has denied involvement in explosive strikes on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week and four tankers off the United Arab Emirates on May 12, both near the Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit for global oil supplies.
But the incidents have fuelled tensions that broke out with the US pullout last year from world powers’ 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, followed by fresh US sanctions to stifle Tehran’s vital oil trade, and a retaliatory Iranian threat this week to resume uranium enrichment in breach of the deal.
France and Germany said yesterday they would crank up efforts to halt any spiral towards conflict with Iran, but time was running out and the risk of war could not be ruled out.
Iran’s signal of preparedness to stockpile enriched uranium beyond the deal’s limit, and refine uranium to a fissile purity higher than deemed necessary for civilian uses, prompted US President Donald Trump to warn on Tuesday he was ready to take military action to stop Tehran developing a nuclear bomb.
Iran denies it has such intentions. Iran said yesterday it would give European powers no more time beyond July 8 to save the nuclear deal by shielding its economy from US sanctions.
President Hassan Rouhani said Iran’s actions were the “minimum” Tehran could do one year after the US withdrew from the deal, but said its steps were reversible “if they return to their commitments”.
In another incident likely to aggravate the stand-off, a rocket crashed yesterday on to a site in southern Iraq used by foreign oil companies, wounding three people.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack near the southern Iraqi city of Basra – the fourth time in a week that rockets have struck near US installations.
In the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah yesterday, the US Navy displayed pieces of limpet mines and a magnet it said its personnel extracted from one of two oil tankers attacked last week.
The US military earlier released images it said showed Iranian Revolutionary Guards removing an unexploded mine from Japanese-owned tanker Kokuka Courageous, which was hit by blasts along with Norwegian-owned Front Altair tanker on June 13.
“The limpet mine that was used in the attack is distinguishable and also strikingly bearing a resemblance to Iranian mines that have already been publicly displayed in Iranian military parades,” Sean Kido, commanding officer of an explosive ordnance dive and salvage task group in the US Naval Forces Central Command (Navcent), said.
Small fragments said to have been removed from the Kokuka Courageous were on display alongside a magnet purportedly left by the Revolutionary Guard squad allegedly captured on video.
The Japanese company that owns the Kokuka Courageous had said its ship was damaged by two “flying objects”, but Navcent dismissed this.
The location of the mine above the ship’s waterline indicated the intention was not to sink the vessel, Kido said.
The US and Saudi Arabia have pointed fingers at Iran for the tanker attacks, but several European nations have said more evidence is needed.
“The dynamics of the two attacks are not clear, and the video that the US said demonstrated Iran’s role was also not clear,” said a Western diplomat in the Gulf.
Sarkozy’s lawyers argued that magistrates investigating the alleged secret Libyan funding had exceeded their powers. He was cleared over the Bettencourt allegations.
African News Agency (ANA)