US Navy claims fragments of mines suggest Iran is behind Gulf tanker attack

Iran denied any involvement in the firing of explosives at two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and four others off the United Arab Emirates on 12 May, both near the Strait of Hormuz, an important global oil supply carrier.

Fujairah, water:

The United States on Wednesday sought to strengthen its arguments in favor of isolating Iran from its nuclear and regional activities by posting fragments of patelle mines, which were allegedly destroyed by a damaged tanker, claiming that the munitions had an Iranian origin.

Iran denied any involvement in the firing of explosives at two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and four others off the United Arab Emirates on 12 May, both near the Strait of Hormuz, an important global oil supply carrier.

But the incidents fueled tensions that exacerbated the US withdrawal from the world powers ' 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, followed by new US sanctions to stifle Tehran's vital oil trade, and an Iranian threat of retaliation to resume uranium enrichment in violation of the agreement.

France and Germany announced on Wednesday that they would redouble their efforts to put an end to any spiral of conflict with Iran, but that time is running out and that the risk of war cannot be excluded.

Iran's signal to prepare to stockpile enriched uranium beyond the limits of the agreement and to refine the uranium to a higher fissile purity than that deemed necessary for civilian purposes, prompted US President Donald Trump to warn Tuesday that he was ready to engage in military action to prevent Tehran from developing. bomb.

The islamic Republic denies having such intentions.

But Trump also left it open as to whether he would support the use of force to protect the Gulf's oil supplies, as Washington feared that Iran would compromise the fears generated by the confrontation.

"We want to unite our efforts so that a process of de-escalation begins," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told La presse in Paris.

"There is still time and we hope that all the actors will be calmer. There is still time, but only a little time."

The Office of French President Emmanuel Macron later announced that his chief diplomatic adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, had visited Tehran on Wednesday for talks aimed at mitigating the crisis. Bonne was based in Iran in the past and is an expert in the Middle East.

Iran, where Trump's pressure campaign has strengthened opponents of détente with the West, announced on Wednesday that European powers will no longer have time to act after July 8 to save the nuclear deal by protecting its economy from US sanctions.

President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran's actions were the" minimum "that Tehran could commit a year after the Trump administration withdrew from the agreement, but that its actions would be reversible "if they lived up to their commitments".

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently announced that senior Iranian, French, British, German, Russian and Chinese diplomats-the remaining signatories of the nuclear agreement - would hold the next quarterly meeting of the agreement monitoring committee in Vienna, the headquarters of the United Nations nuclear monitoring group.  the 28th of June.

Kuwait and Iraq have called for wisdom and reason in the face of the latest developments in order to defuse tensions and prevent clashes, reported the official Kuwaiti news agency KUNA.

United States displays mine fragments, Magent

In the port of Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, the U.S. Navy unveiled pieces of Patel mines and a magnet, said that its staff had been extracted from one of the two oil tankers attacked in the Gulf of Oman last week.

The US Army had already released images of Iranian Revolutionary Guards extracting an unexploded mine from the Japanese tanker Kokuka Courageous, which was hit by explosions with the French tanker Front Altair on 13 June.

"The patella mine used in the attack is recognizable and is strikingly similar to the Iranian mines already exposed publicly in Iranian military parades," said Sean Kido, commanding officer of an explosive device rescue and diving task force in the United States. Central Command of naval forces (NAVCENT), told reporters.

Small fragments that would have been removed from the Kokuka Courageous were exposed next to a magnet that would have been left by the brigade of the Guardians of the revolution would have been filmed.

The Japanese company that owned the Kokuka Courageous had claimed that its vessel had been damaged by two "flying objects", but NAVCENT rejected this account.

"The damage to the mine hole is consistent with an attack from the patelle mine, it is not consistent with an external flying object that hits the ship," said Kido, adding that visible nail holes in the hull indicated how the mine was attached to the ship's Hull. .

The location of the mine above the vessel's waterline indicated that the intention was not to sink the vessel, he said.

Two Western security sources told Reuters this week that the attacks appeared to be limited to cause only limited damage and avoid injury, showing that Iran could wreak havoc if it wanted to, possibly persuade Washington and other enemies to back down rather than trigger conflict.

Kido also stated that NAVCENT had collected biometric information, including fingerprints from the hull of the vessel, which would help initiate criminal proceedings against the assailants.

Rockets hit a Western oil site in Iraq

In another incident that could fuel tensions, a rocket crashed on Wednesday at a site in southern Iraq used by foreign oil companies, including US energy giant ExxonMobil, injuring three people.

The attack was not claimed immediately near the southern Iraqi city of Basra - the fourth time in a week that rockets landed near American installations. There were no casualties or significant damage in previous incidents.

An Iraqi security source said it appeared that Iranian-backed groups in southern Iraq were behind the Basra incident on Wednesday.

The Iranian authorities did not comment on the attack but strongly denied all other allegations that Tehran had targeted energy tanks and installations in the region.

Although the United States and Saudi Arabia have singled out Iran for all the oil attacks, several European countries have said that more evidence is needed.