Attacked tanker crew saw ‘flying object’ Japanese operator

The Japanese operator of a tanker that was attacked near the Strait of Hormuz said on Friday crew members saw an incoming “flying object” before the explosion.   

Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, Kokuka Sangyo president Yutaka Katada said the Kokuka Courageous, which was carrying 25,000 tons of methanol from Saudi Arabia to Singapore, was attacked twice but denied it had been hit by a torpedo.   

Katada said the tanker suffered two explosions, several hours apart. The crew saw the flying object only before the second explosion.   

The tanker is now being towed to the United Arab Emirates, the company said.   

All of the tanker’s Filipino crew members returned to the ship after the explosion to restore the power system, Katada said.   

The Kokuka Courageous and the Norwegian-owned Front Altair were hit by explosions near the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for oil between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, early Thursday.   

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran for the attacks, an accusation which Tehran vigorously denied. 
Tokyo (dpa) 14 June 2019 

US releases video claiming Iranians removed limpet mine 

(Daily Mail), 14 June 2019 -   
The U.S. military on Friday released a video it said showed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded limpet mine from one of the oil tankers targeted near the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting the Islamic Republic sought to remove evidence of its involvement from the scene.   

Captain Bill Urban, spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, issued a timeline that suggested the military witnessed Iranian vessels returning to the Japanese vessel.   

‘At 4:10 p.m. local time an IRGC Gashti Class patrol boat approached the M/T Kokuka Courageous and was observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine’ from the Courageous, Urban said.