The US stated that Iran is responsible for the accident in the Gulf of Oman, where two oil tankers exploded.
As Reuters reports, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the one to make a statement.
"It is the assessment by the United States government that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks that occurred in the Gulf of Oman today," he said.
According to Pompeo, Washington came to this conclusion based on “intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation”, as well as recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping.
The head of American diplomacy added that he instructed the United States Permanent Representative to the UN, Jonathan Cohen, to raise this issue at a meeting of the Security Council of the World Organization.
Pompeo has also noted that the US policy toward Tehran remains unchanged. According to him, Washington wants negotiations with Iran in order to reach a comprehensive agreement. To achieve it, “the United States intends to use economic and diplomatic pressure but is ready, if necessary, to defend with force.”
At the same time, the President of the United States Donald Trump stated that neither Iran nor the US are ready for a new agreement. “I personally feel that it is too soon to even think about making a deal,” Trump wrote.
The US military published a video with, supposedly, Iranians taking an unexploded mine from the tanker Kokuka Courageous. The shots were published on the US Naval Academy YouTube channel.
In a minute and a half black-and-white video, shot by a drone, one can see a boat near the tanker and a person that detaches an unknown object from the side of the vessel. The description says that the boat has been identified as a patrol boat of the Gashti-class Corps of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution.
In turn, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the US accusations baseless.
“That the US immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran — w/o a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence — only makes it abundantly clear that the #B_Team is moving to a Plan B: Sabotage diplomacy—including by Abe Shinzo (Prime Minister of Japan) — and cover up its economic terrorism against Iran,” he wrote on Twitter.
As “Apostrophe” reported earlier, on April 21 in Sri Lanka, there has been a series of explosions in Catholic churches during the Easter service. 258 people died.