Saudi Arabia blames tanker attacks on Iran

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman blamed Iran for the attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Sunday.   

In an interview with the pan-Arab publication, the crown prince charged that the Iranian regime attacked the ships, one of which was Japanese, during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit.   

“The Iranian regime did not respect the Japanese prime minister’s visit to Tehran, and while he was there replied to his efforts by attacking two tankers, one of which was Japanese,” he told Al-Sharq al-Awsat.   

Salman urged the international community to take a “decisive stand.”   

The Saudi crown prince also said that his country does not want war. “But we won’t hesitate to deal with any threat to our people, our sovereignty, our territorial integrity and our vital interests,” he added.   

The Japanese tanker, the Kokuka Courageous, was struck twice on Thursday.   

The incidents have led the United States to point the finger at Iran, risking an escalation in already fraught tensions in the region. Tehran has denied any involvement.zThe Iranian Foreign Ministry called in British Ambassador Rob Macaire on Saturday to submit “a few explanations,” state news agency IRNA reported, a day after British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt echoed the US in blaming Iran for the attacks. The head of the ministry’s Europe department told Macaire that Hunt’s “anti-Iranian” statement was “unacceptable.”   

Hunt, without any evidence, had “hastily and blindly” repeated US allegations against Iran, the European commissioner said. Macaire will forward the Iranian protest to London, IRNA reported. 
Istanbul/Stockholm (dpa), 
16 June, 2019