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Trump blames Iran in tanker blasts, says sea lane not at risk

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AFP Washington
Last Updated : Jun 14 2019 | 9:40 PM IST

US President Donald Trump on Friday rejected Tehran's denial it was behind mysterious explosions on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, saying the incident had Iran "written all over it".

As US-Iranian tensions soared, Trump dismissed previous threats by Tehran that in case of conflict it could block the Hormuz Strait -- a narrow seaway vital to the world's oil supplies.

"They're not going to be closing it," he said in an interview on Fox News television.

Speaking hours after the US military released grainy footage it said showed an Iranian patrol boat removing an "unexploded limpet mine" from one of the tankers, Trump was emphatic.

"Iran did do it," Trump told the "Fox and Friends" show.

"You know they did it because you saw the boat. I guess one of the mines didn't explode and it's probably got essentially Iran written all over it. You saw the boat at night, successfully trying to take the mine off -- and that was exposed," he added.

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Iran rejects the US accusations. It labelled the attacks "suspicious" as Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rebuffed overtures by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to open talks with Trump.

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." He accused Washington of seeking to "sabotage diplomacy" as Abe visited Iran.

One of the targeted vessels is owned by a Japanese company while the other was Norwegian-operated.

Iran has repeatedly warned in the past that it could block the Hormuz Strait in a relatively low-tech, high-impact countermeasure to any attack by the US.

Doing so, would disrupt traffic of oil tankers between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, which leads to the Indian Ocean and global export routes.

"If the hostility of enemies increase, we will be able to do so," Iran's armed forces chief of staff, Mohammad Bagheri, told semi-official ISNA in April.

Trump played down the threat.

"It's not going to be closed, it's not going to be closed for long and they know it. They've been told in very strong terms," Trump told Fox News.

Oil prices have surged in response to the geopolitical tension.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister Khalid al-Falih said the kingdom was monitoring the situation with "great concern," the Saudi SPA news agency said.

Al-Falih "called upon the international community to assume its joint responsibility and take firm action to secure maritime traffic in the region's waterways." Saudi Arabia, a close US ally, is a bitter regional rival of Iran.

China called for all sides to "resolve the conflict through dialogue," while the European Union called for "maximum restraint."
Russia, which has close, even if sometimes strained links to Iran, warned through its foreign ministry against "hasty conclusions."
Iran's English-language Press TV aired footage of rescued crewmen from the Front Altair, saying they are all in "full health." "Everything is OK," said one of the vessel's "chief officers", presenting himself as Russian and thanking Iran for its "hospitality."

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First Published: Jun 14 2019 | 9:40 PM IST

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