Iran denies role in Gulf of Oman attacks

Iran’s foreign ministry Friday dismissed as”baseless” US accusations of being behind attacks on two tankers inthe Gulf of Oman, adding Washington was trying to “sabotagediplomacy”.

The US had “immediately jumped to make allegationsagainst Iran –(without) a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence,”Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet.

   

That showed it was “abundantly clear that the #B_Teamis moving to a #PlanB: Sabotage diplomacy — including by @AbeShinzo — andcover up its #EconomicTerrorism against Iran”.

Zarif regularly uses the term “B Team” to refer toUS National Security Advisor John Bolton as well as Israel’s prime minister,Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who are all pushing a hard line onTehran.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of beingbehind Thursday’s attacks which left at least one of the tankers ablaze off theIranian coast, while the crews had to abandon ship.

“It is the assessment of the United States that theIslamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks,” Pompeo toldreporters.

But Iran foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi hit backthat Iran had come to “help” the ships in distress and”saved” their crew as quickly as possible, according to a statementpublished on his Telegram channel.

Pompeo said there was strong evidence of Iran’s culpability”based on the intelligence, the weapons used, the level expertise neededto execute the operation” and only Iran in the region had the ability toundertake such an operation.

“Apparently for Mr. Pompeo and other Americanauthorities accusing Iran is the easiest thing to do,” said Mousavi,insisting Iran was upholding the burden of securing the key Strait of Hormuz.

The attacks came as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wasin Iran seeking to defuse tensions between Washington and the Islamic Republic.

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