Trump points to video in blaming Iran for attacks
Footage purports to show unexploded mine being removed from oil tanker
WASHINGTON— U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday there was no doubt that Iran was behind the explosions that crippled two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman this week and warned Tehran not to try to close the Strait of Hormuz, a major transit point for the world’s oil supplies.
“Well, Iran did do it,” the president said in a telephone interview on Fox &
Friends in his first comments since the ships were damaged. “And you know they did it because you saw the boat. I guess one of the mines didn’t explode and it’s probably got essentially Iran written all over it.”
The president was referring to video footage released by the U.S. military that it said showed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boat pulling alongside one of the stricken ships several hours after the first explosion and removing an unexploded limpet mine in broad daylight.
“That was their boat, that was them,” Trump said. “And they didn’t want the evidence left behind.”
The president warned Iran not to try to block the Strait of Hormuz. “They’re not going to be closing it,” he said. “If it closes, it’s not going to be closed for long. And they know it.”
The explosions ratcheted up tension in the Middle East, where Trump has sought to confront and contain Iran since he took office. Many players in the region were watching the president Friday to see how he would respond to the latest episode, even as his administration sought to assign blame for the explosions to Iran amid skepticism from some critics of the United States.
The explosions forced the crews of both vessels to evacuate and left at least one ablaze. The incident increased international anxiety over the shipping lanes that are the gateway for a third of all crude oil by tanker and raised fears of a broadening crisis that could escalate and jeopardize world energy supplies.
Iran dismissed allegations of its involvement, characterizing them as U.S. propaganda intended to provoke a conflict.
“That the US immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran—w/o a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence — only makes it abundantly clear that the #B_Team is moving to a #PlanB: Sabotage diplomacy — including by @AbeShinzo — and cover up its #EconomicTerrorism against Iran,” Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, wrote on Twitter on Friday.
This week’s episode came against the backdrop of a peacemaking visit to Iran by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, who brought a note from Trump to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. The ayatollah dismissed the overture.
“I do not see Trump as worthy of any message exchange, and I do not have any reply for him, now or in future,” he said Thursday after meeting with Abe.
In his interview Friday, Trump said he was still open to diplomacy with Iran. “I’m ready when they are,” he said. “Whenever they’re ready it’s OK. In the meantime, I’m in no rush.”
That seemed to flip his view from a day earlier when he wrote on Twitter that “it is too soon to even think about making a deal,” adding, “They are not ready and neither are we!”
Trump’s contradictory comments left unclear how he might respond to the latest incident. His political opponents expressed fear that he would seek to exploit it to justify a military strike on Iran and warned him that he does not have congressional authorization to use force.
“Attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman are unacceptable and must be fully investigated,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, said by email. “But this incident must not be used as a pretext for a war with Iran, a war which would be an unmitigated disaster for the United States, Iran, the region and the world.”