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Iran ‘categorically rejects’ US tanker attack allegations
TEHRAN, June 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Iran’s defence minister “categorically
rejected” Wednesday accusations that Tehran was behind two tanker attacks in
the Gulf of Oman, describing evidence presented by Washington as
“unsubstantiated”, official news agency IRNA reported.
Washington has blamed Iran for last week’s attacks, releasing images and a
grainy video it alleges shows Iranians on a patrol boat removing an
unexploded limpet mine attached to one of the tankers.
“Accusations levelled against Iran’s armed forces and the published film
with regards to the incident (that) happened to the vessels … are
unsubstantiated and we categorically reject these accusations,” IRNA quoted
Defence Minister Brigadier-General Amir Hatami as saying.
“The armed forces and the port organisation were among the first to
approach the tankers after the incident for relief operations and they
rescued 23 people in the first tanker,” he added.
Hatami did not explicitly specify which of the two ships he was referring
to, but Iran’s English-language Press TV at the time broadcast footage of 23
sailors rescued from the Front Altair, a tanker owned by a Norwegian listed
company.
Hatami added that the Iranian forces then headed to the second tanker, but
the crew announced another vessel had already rescued them.
“This means Americans had arrived sooner to the scene where they claim the
video was recorded at,” Hatami said, with apparent reference to the Japanese-
owned Kokuka Courageous.
According to a US navy spokesman, the 21 sailors from the Kokuka
Courageous abandoned ship after “discovering a probable unexploded limpet
mine on their hull following an initial explosion”, before they were picked
up by a Dutch tugboat.
The sailors were transferred to the USS Bainbridge and US Central Command
later released a video it said showed an Iranian patrol boat removing the
mine from the hull of the Kokuka Courageous, but it has not provided an
explanation as to why the patrol boat allegedly did so while the US military
was observing.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry had already dismissed the US allegations that it
was behind the attacks as “baseless” and slammed Saudi Arabia and Britain —
where Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has alleged Iran was “almost certainly”
responsible for the attacks — for following the US line.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington have grown since the US unilaterally
quit the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal last year and reimposed sanctions on
Iran.
The US has bolstered its military presence in the Middle East and
blacklisted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation.
BSS/AFP/RY/1655 hrs