Fri 14 June 2019:
Two oil tankers were attacked on Thursday and left adrift in the Gulf of Oman, driving up oil prices and stoking fears of a new confrontation between Iran and the United States, which blamed Tehran for the incident.
“It is the assessment of the United States government that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks that occurred in the Gulf of Oman today,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters without providing explicit evidence to back up the U.S. stance. “This assessment is based on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping, and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication,” Pompeo said.
Crude oil prices spiked more than 4% after the attacks near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping artery for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf energy producers, stoked fears such disruptions could impact oil flows from the Middle East. Prices later settled about 2% higher. Washington accused Tehran of being behind a similar attack on May 12 on four tankers in the same area.
The British government agrees with the United States that Iran was behind the suspected attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, a BBC reporter wrote on Twitter.“We strongly agree with the US assessment,” the reporter tweeted, quoting a UK Foreign Office source.The Foreign Office had no immediate comment.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
