Allies blame Iran for fatal tanker strike
The United States and Britain joined Israel on Sunday in alleging Iran carried out a fatal drone strike on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman, putting further pressure on Tehran as it denied being involved in the assault.
Calling it a “unlawful and callous attack,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said his country and its allies planned a coordinated response over the strike on the oil tanker Mercer Street. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken soon followed, saying there was “no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior.”
The strike Thursday marked the firstknown fatal attack after years of assaults on commercial shipping in the region linked to tensions with Iran over its tattered nuclear deal. While no one has claimed responsibility, Iran and its militia allies have used drones in previous attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett went further than Blinken and Raab and warned: “We know, at any rate, know how to convey the message to Iran in our own way.”
The drone attack blasted a hole through the top of the oil tanker’s bridge, where the captain and crew command the vessel, a U.S. official told the Associated Press. The blast killed two crew members from the United Kingdom and Romania.
The Navy said the American aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan and guided missile destroyer Mitscher had escorted the ship to a safe port.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh described the allegation Iran carried out the attack as “baseless.”
TURKEY Wildfires force evacuations
Wildfires raged Sunday near Turkey’s holiday beach destinations of Antalya and Mugla as the discovery of more victims pushed the death toll to eight. Residents and tourists fled the danger in boats while the coast guard and navy ships waited at sea in case a bigger evacuation was needed.
Fires enveloped the seaside resort of Marmaris in Mugla province and strong winds made firefighting efforts more difficult.
Turkish news agency DHA said the bodies of a TurkishGerman couple were found in their burned home in Manavgat in Antalya province, bringing the overall death toll to eight in the fires that began on Wednesday.
Earlier Sunday, police water cannons, usually used to control riots, helped helicopters and fire trucks in Mugla’s popular district of Bodrum to fight fires.
A heat wave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from North Africa, has led to wildfires across the Mediterranean, including on the Italian island of Sicily and in western Greece, where some residents had to be evacuated by boat to escape the flames.
MIDEAST Hamas reelects supreme leader
The Islamic militant group Hamas on Sunday said it had reelected its supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who has been living in exile for the past two years.
Haniyeh was given a new fouryear term by the Shura Council, the group’s top decisionmaking body. He was unopposed.
Haniyeh served as the Palestinian prime minister after Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 — a year before the group seized control of Gaza from the rival Fatahled forces of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas seeks Israel’s destruction. Since taking control of Gaza in 2007, the group has fought four wars against Israel, most recently in May, and numerous smaller battles over the years.
CALIFORNIA Theater attack kills 2 patrons
A young TikTok star who had been on life support after he and a friend were shot inside a movie theater in Corona (Riverside County) has died, police and his family said.
Anthony Barajas, 19, was watching “The Forever Purge” at a theater with Rylee Goodrich, 18, last Monday when they were each shot in the head. Goodrich died at the scene. Barajas was hospitalized.
Barajas, known online as its anthony michael, had nearly a million followers on TikTok and more on other platforms.
The gunman acted alone, and there’s no indication he knew the victims or that Barajas’ role as a TikTok influencer played a role in the crime, said police Cpl. Tobias Kouroubacalis.
“It was completely unprovoked,” Kouroubacalis said.
Police were working with prosecutors to add a second murder count against the suspect, Joseph Jimenez, 20.
NEW YORK 10 injured in mass shooting
Two men opened fire on a crowd outside a barbershop in the New York City borough of Queens, wounding 10 people before fleeing on mopeds, police said Sunday.
The shooting took place just before 11 p.m. Saturday. The 10 were hospitalized with nonlifethreatening injuries, according to police.
Three of those shot were members of a Dominican street gang and were the intended targets, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.