John Bolton blames Iran for oil tanker attacks in Gulf US national security adviser warns of a ‘very strong response’

John Bolton, the US national security adviser, blamed Iran for the sabotage of four oil tankers off the United Arab Emirates, warning of a “very strong response from the US” against the Islamic republic and its proxies.

“I think it is clear these [tanker attacks] were naval mines almost certainly from Iran,” Mr Bolton told reporters in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

“Who else would you think is doing it? Somebody from Nepal?”

“There is no doubt in anybody’s mind in Washington who was responsible for this,” he said. “It is important for the leadership in Iran to know that we know.”

Mr Bolton’s statement threatens to reinflame tensions with Tehran after weeks in which the Trump administration has mixed threats with statements playing down the odds of a Us-iran conflict.

Iranian officials have described the tanker attacks earlier this month as suspicious.

Mr Bolton said US special forces had contributed to the investigation into the incident, which damaged Saudi, Emirati and Norwegian vessels. The UAE has yet to apportion blame for the attacks.

Mr Bolton said they were connected to at least three other incidents over the past month, including a drone strike on a Saudi pipeline claimed by the Iran-allied Yemeni Houthi militia, a rocket fired into a park near the US embassy in Baghdad and a failed attack on the Saudi port of Yanbu.

Earlier this month the White House said the US was sending an aircraft carrier strike group and B-52 bombers to the Middle East after intelligence suggested Iran might be preparing to attack American forces. Last week US President Donald Trump said the US would move an additional 1,500 troops to the region.

Mr Bolton said the US deployments were designed to act as a deterrent and had so far been successful.

“The point is to make it clear to Iran and its surrogates that these kind of actions risk a very strong response from the United States,” he said. The US would be “prudent and responsible” in its approach, he added.

Iran is seeking to resist US pressure without provoking Washington. But there is anger in Tehran at Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are perceived to be encouraging the Trump administration to punish Iran.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that doors were not closed to negotiations with the US if it showed “in practice” that it could adhere to “justice and law” in dealing with Iran.

Mr Bolton said the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ overseas Quds Force, and its leader Qasem Soleimani, were using Shia militia groups in Iraq to indirectly attack US diplomatic facilities in Iraq.

“We have made it clear that we are going to hold the Quds Force responsible if we see attacks like the one in Baghdad, whether it was intended as a signal we don’t know,” Mr Bolton added.

“But we know who sends these rockets into Iraq, we know who trains the Shia militia groups, we know who finances the Shia militia groups, we know who to a large extent directs their activities,” he added. “We will hold them responsible if they make the mistake of going further.”

The four attacks were consistent with US intelligence that prompted the deployment of more US forces in the region.

Mr Bolton said Iran had no reason to break the limits on enriched uranium and heavy water agreed as part of its nuclear deal with global powers, unless that was part of an effort to reduce break out time needed to produce nuclear weapons.