US blames Iran for 'disrupting flow of oil': Update

Adds comments from US secretary of state Pompeo

Iran is responsible for the apparent attacks today and last month on tankers in the Mideast Gulf, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said today.

"It is the assessment of the US government that Iran carried out attacks" that damaged two tankers in the Gulf of Oman today, Pompeo said, citing a conclusion that the methods and weapons used in the attacks implicated Iran.

Tehran in April vowed to disrupt the flow of oil through the strait of Hormuz "and is now working to execute on that promise," he said, blaming Iran for actions taken to disrupt the flow of oil from the Mideast Gulf. "Iran is lashing out because it wants our successful maximum pressure campaign lifted."

Pompeo also blamed Iran for the incident in May during which a very large crude carrier, an Aframax, a Handymax and a bunkering vessel were damaged off the coast of UAE, for drone attacks on Saudi Aramco's oil pumping stations in Saudi Arabia and the missile attacks on Saudi airports and infrastructure that Yemen's Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for. An official inquiry submitted by the UAE to the UN Security Council on the May tanker attacks blames an unnamed "state actor."

US naval forces received two distress calls from two vessels in the Gulf of Oman at 6:12am and 7:00am local time, according to the US Central Command with responsibility over the Middle East. A Fujairah port official identified the vessels as the Long Range 2 (LR2) Front Altair and chemical tanker Kokuka Courageous.

US destroyer Bainbridge, which was operating in the vicinity, has taken aboard 21 mariners who abandoned the Kokuka Courageous, according to the Central Command. The crew of Kokuka Courageous abandoned ship after "a security incident" resulted in damage to the hull, operator BSM Ship Management said, adding that the tanker is in no danger of sinking and its cargo of methanol is intact.

The two vessels had recently moved through the strait of Hormuz, a major shipping and trading lane in the Middle East through which around 20mn b/d of crude and oil products transits. Oil futures prices rose in early trading this morning after news reports on the incidents.

The Pentagon since May has increased its naval presence in the Middle East and announced a deployment of an additional 1,500 personnel to confront what US officials described in early May as threats from Iran to Mideast Gulf oil shipping and infrastructure.

Prior to today's incidents, defense officials had suggested that the increase in US military personnel in the region had diminished those threats.

"Tomorrow they will probably threaten once again to close the Strait of Hormuz. We are not impressed," the State Department said on 10 June.

The US since the late 1970s repeatedly has pledged to use its military power to ensure that Mideast Gulf oil can find its way to world markets.

Iran has denied responsibility for the incidents. Iranian state-owned news agency Irna said the crew from both tankers damaged today have been taken to the nearby port of Jask.

"Suspicious does not begin to describe what likely transpired," Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said via Twitter of today's apparent attacks, noting that they took place during a visit to Tehran by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Pompeo said "Iran insulted Japan" by targeting the Japanese-flagged Kokuka Courageous while Abe was in Iran.

Abe visited Japan to try to help defuse tensions between the US and Iran and propose negotiations between the leaders of those countries. But Iran's leaders rejected the suggestion, noting that President Donald Trump did not offer to negotiate in good faith.

"We do not believe at all that the US is seeking genuine negotiations with Iran; because genuine negotiations would never come from a person like Trump," Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said via Twitter.

Trump responded via Twitter as well. "While I very much appreciate P.M. Abe going to Iran to meet with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, I personally feel that it is too soon to even think about making a deal. They are not ready, and neither are we!"