Crew of targeted tanker now in Dubai
Ten of its 23 mariners walked out to be greeted by officials at airport The attacks left two oil tankers in flames in the Gulf of Oman.
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES— Crew members from a Norwegian-owned oil tanker apparently attacked in the Gulf of Oman landed Saturday in Dubai after two days in Iran as the other tanker targeted in the assault limped into anchorage off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates. Both the mariners’ recollection and the physical evidence remaining on the MT Front Altair and the Kokuka Courageous, now off the coast of Fujairah, will play an important role in determining who the international community blames for Thursday’s explosions on board the oil tankers.
Already, the U.S. has blamed Iran for what it described as an attack with limpet mines on the two tankers, pointing to blackand-white footage it captured that American officials describe as Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops removing an unexploded mine from the Kokuka Courageous.
Tehran rejects the allegation, instead accusing the U.S. under President Donald Trump of pursuing an “Iranophobic” campaign against it. However, Iran previously used mines against oil tankers in 1987 and 1988 in the “Tanker War,” which saw the U.S. Navy escort ships through the region — something American officials may consider doing again.
All this comes after four other oil tankers off Fujairah suffered similar attacks in recent weeks, and Iranian-allied rebels from Yemen have struck U.S. ally Saudi Arabia with drones and missiles. President Donald Trump withdrew America last year from the 2015 nuclear deal that Iran reached with world powers and recently imposed a series of sanctions now squeezing its beleaguered economy and cutting deeply into its oil exports.
While Iran maintains it has nothing to do with the recent attacks, its leaders repeatedly have threatened to close the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil flows.
On Saturday, Associated Press journalists saw the crew members of Front Altair after their Iran Air flight from Bandar Abbas, Iran, landed at Dubai International Airport. Ten of its 23 mariners walked out to be greeted by officials who earlier could be heard saying the others would be catching connecting flights.
The officials repeatedly refused to identify themselves to journalists. They and the mariners declined to take questions.
The Front Altair caught fire after the attack Thursday, sending a thick cloud of black smoke visible even by satellite from space. A passing ship rescued the mariners, who later were turned over to Iranian officials. Iran took the mariners to Jask, then later Bandar Abbas, before putting them on the flight Saturday night. Its crew was comprised of 11 Russians, 11 Filipinos and one Georgian.
Meanwhile on Saturday, the Kokuka Courageous arrived off the coast of Fujairah. Journalists in the city could not reach the vessel as boat captains said authorities instructed them not to go near the stricken vessel.
The Kokuka Courageous is the vessel where Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops were filmed Thursday removing something from the ship’s hull. The U.S. military says they removed an unexploded limpet mine, which can be magnetically attached to a vessel.