Smoke billows from the Norwegian owned Front Altair tanker after it was attacked in the waters of the Gulf of Oman. Photo: TNS
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https://scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3014687/tanker-attacks-world-divided-over-irans-role-saudi-crown Middle East
Tanker attacks: world divided over Iran’s role as Saudi crown prince breaks silence
- Attacks have raised fears of confrontation in vital oil shipping route of Strait of Hormuz at time of increased tensions between Iran and United States
Smoke billows from the Norwegian owned Front Altair tanker after it was attacked in the waters of the Gulf of Oman. Photo: TNS
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman accused arch-rival Iran of attacks on oil tankers in a vital Gulf shipping channel, adding he “won’t hesitate” to tackle any threats to the kingdom, according to an interview published on Sunday.
Two tankers were struck by explosions on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, the second attack in a month in the strategic shipping lane amid a tense US-Iran stand-off, sparking fears of a regional conflagration and sending oil prices soaring.
Salman urged the international community to take a “decisive stand”.
“We do not want a war in the region … But we won’t hesitate to deal with any threat to our people, our sovereignty, our territorial integrity and our vital interests,” Prince Mohammed told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, in his first public comments since the attacks.
“The Iranian regime did not respect the presence of the Japanese prime minister as a guest in Tehran and responded to his (diplomatic) efforts by attacking two tankers, one of which was Japanese.”
The prince also accused “Iran and its proxies” over May 12 attacks on four tankers anchored in the Gulf of Oman off the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah.
Thursday’s attack on two tankers – the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous that was carrying highly flammable methanol when it was rocked by explosions and the Norwegian-operated Front Altair – came around the time Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was meeting with Iranian leaders in Tehran.
US President Donald Trump has said the twin attacks had Iran “written all over it”, rejecting Tehran’s vehement denial.
Saudi Arabia, a close US ally, is a bitter regional rival of Iran.
The US military on Friday released grainy footage it said showed an Iranian patrol boat removing an “unexploded limpet mine” from one of the tankers.
Iran, meanwhile, has denied responsibility for that attack. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that the US had “immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran without a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence.”
Iran has repeatedly warned in the past that it could block the strategic Hormuz Strait in a relatively low-tech, high-impact countermeasure to any attack by the United States.
Doing so would disrupt oil tankers travelling out of the Gulf region to the Indian Ocean and global export routes.
A combination of undated photographs shows damage to four tankers from the May 12 attacks. Photo: Reuters
The UK officially joined the US in accusing Iran of perpetrating the attack on Friday night, in a statement from the Foreign Office saying: “It is almost certain that a branch of the Iranian military – the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – attacked the two tankers on 13 June. No other state or non-state actor could plausibly have been responsible.”
Although Trump claimed Iran was behind the attacks, other countries have been more cautious in assigning blame.
Japanese government officials remained unconvinced of Iran’s alleged role, sources said.
“The US explanation has not helped us go beyond speculation,” said one senior Japanese government official.
The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation.
“It’s very important to know the truth and it’s very important that responsibilities are clarified,” Guterres told reporters on Friday.
The German foreign minister was also cautious, saying the video released by US Central Command was “not enough” to make an assessment, according to ABC News.
Several world powers have called for diplomatic efforts to lower tensions, including China and Russia, which have closer ties to Iran.
The European Union called for “maximum restraint”.
Meanwhile crew members rescued from a Norwegian-owned oil tanker arrived in Dubai, the owners and managers of the Front Altair said on Saturday.
The tanker was on Saturday towed out of Iranian waters and reported to be in the Gulf of Oman.
The Japanese tanker’s Tokyo-based operator Kokuka confirmed Saturday the stricken vessel was heading to port in the UAE.
Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg, The Guardian, DPA, Kyodo