Tankers Hit in Sea of Oman: Iran Helps Rescue 23 Crew Members, U.S. Blames Iran For The Attack

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Jun. 13, 2019

Two tanker ships reportedly carrying Japanese goods were attacked in Sea of Oman on Thursday while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was meeting with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to try and deescalate tensions between Iran and the US.


One ship with 23 people on board was reportedly "rescued Thursday by nearby vessel Hyundai Dubai, were unharmed and were transferred to an Iranian navy vessel and disembarked at a local Iranian port," according to the AP.


The second ship with 21 people on board "escaped on a life boat and were initially rescued by a Dutch ship that was headed to the United Arab Emirates," the AP reports.

They were reportedly later picked up by the US.


Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif responded to the attack saying: "Suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning."


Bloomberg columnist Julian Lee, in a surprisingly honest report which was shared on the top of the Drudge Report, noted how Iran "has little to gain" from any such attack.


From Bloomberg, "Iran Has Little to Gain From Oman Tanker Attacks":
There is another group that will benefit from the incident – the people who want to see the U.S. step up its campaign against Iran and move from an economic war to a military one. There are plenty of those, both in the U.S. and among its allies in the Persian Gulf and wider Middle East regions.

The timing of the attacks also raises questions.

They come as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is visiting Tehran, with the blessing of President Trump. On Wednesday Abe urged Tehran to avoid conflict at all costs and pledged to do his utmost to ease tensions. The tankers damaged on Thursday were carrying cargoes related to Japan, Hiroshige Seko, minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, said on the ministry's Twitter feed.

A day earlier, Iran freed a U.S. resident imprisoned on espionage charges.

This would seem very clumsy timing from a country seeing the first tangible signs of any easing of the crippling sanctions imposed by the Americans. But it is absolutely understandable if you’re someone whose ultimate goal is to derail any easing of tensions between the two nations, and to effect regime change in Tehran. Whoever is behind the attacks is no friend of Iran.
There's only one world leader who has openly been advocating for escalated tensions between the US and Iran.


Despite Iran having little motive to stage such an attack, the U.S. just lazily blamed them anyways before any serious investigation could even take place.




The Trump administration are also declaring they have the unilateral right to authorize war on Iran without any congressional approval (but they can't build a wall on our southern border or protect free speech online!):


Neocon lapdog Marco Rubio said media outlets not blaming Iran immediately for the attack (with zero evidence) are actually to blame for the attack themselves:


Is there anyone with a functioning brain who actually believes this garbage?



Does anyone believe for a second these clowns wouldn't lie us into another war?







UPDATE: Iran has suggested before the UN the attack may have been a "false flag."

From The Sun, "Iran accuses the US of LYING about the ‘suspicious’ attack on American-linked oil tanker and denies ordering ‘torpedo’ assault":
[...] Iran has hit back at the "unfounded and reckless" claims [of Mike Pompeo] and accused the US of "warmongering" as part of a "disinformation campaign".

"The US and its regional allies must stop warmongering and put an end to mischievous plots and false flag operations in the region," Iran's mission to the United Nations said.

"Warning, once again, about all of the US coercion, intimidation and malign behaviour, Iran expresses concern over suspicious incidents for the oil tankers that occurred today."

It came after Pompeo pointed the finger at Iran, saying the assessment was based on intelligence, but presenting no public evidence to support his claim.

He said the attacks were part of a "campaign" of "escalating tension" by Iran which posed a threat to international peace and security.

Iran blasted his "inflammatory remarks" and said they amounted to "another Iranophobic campaign".

"Iran categorically rejects the U.S. unfounded claim with regard to 13 June oil tanker incidents and condemns it in the strongest possible terms," the Iranian mission said in a statement.

The hardline Islamic nation added that the US poses the "most significant threat" to the peace and security of the Persian Gulf region.

"The US economic war and terrorism against the Iranian people as well as the massive military presence in the region have been and continue to be the main sources of insecurity and instability in the wider Persian Gulf region and the most significant threat to its peace and security," the statement said.
Follow InformationLiberation on Twitter, Facebook, Gab and Minds.












All original InformationLiberation articles CC 4.0



About - Privacy Policy