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PortandTerminal.com, June 27, 2019
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has not blamed Iran for the tanker attacks on four tankers off of Fujairah last month. The political hawks in Washington though have gone on record multiple times saying that Iran did do it.
Abu Dhabi, UAE – An investigation by the U.A.E., Norway and Saudi Arabia into the attack and disabling of four tankers off of the port of Fujairah on May 12th has concluded that a “state actor” was most likely behind the incident. Crucially though, no nation was singled out in the report as the culprit. Still, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton has said that Iran was almost certainly responsible.
Of the four commercial ships targeted in the May 12 attack, one was flying a UAE flag, two were tankers owned by Saudi Arabia, and the fourth was a Norwegian tanker. The UAE, which described the attack as a “sabotage,” did not elaborate on how the ships were damaged or who might be responsible. Iran denounced the attack and denied involvement.
The UAE has submitted the results of the investigation into explosive blasts in May on the four vessels off its coast to the United Nations which showed that a state actor was behind the operation but without naming any country. The United States and Saudi Arabia have blamed Iran, a charge Tehran denies.
“Honestly we can’t point the blame at any country because we don’t have evidence”
Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, UAE
The attack predated the pair of strikes in the Gulf of Oman this month that the U.S. has also blamed on Iran. In this more recent and more serious incident, two tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman as they made their way toward the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s foremost oil shipping chokepoint. The United States also blames Iran for that second attack.
“Honestly we can’t point the blame at any country because we don’t have evidence,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on Wednesday in Moscow. “If there is a country that has the evidence, then I’m convinced that the international community will listen to it. But we need to make sure the evidence is precise and convincing.”
“John Bolton is absolutely a hawk”
US national security adviser John Bolton, without offering evidence, says Iran ‘almost certainly’ responsible for oil tanker attack in UAE. “I think it is clear these (attacks) were naval mines almost certainly from Iran,” Bolton told reporters during a visit to Abu Dhabi shortly after the attacks off of Fujairah on May 12th.
I have some hawks. John Bolton is absolutely a hawk. If it was up to him he’d take on the whole world at one time.
President Donald Trump
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