Pompeo again blames Iran for tankers’ attack

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Washington [US], June 17: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday reiterated his stance over recent attacks on two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz and blamed Iran for tankers’ attack. “These were attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran on commercial shipping on the freedom of navigation, with the clear intent to deny transit through the strait,” The Hill quoted Pompeo as saying. “The intelligence community has lots of data, lots of evidence,” he said. “The American people should rest assured we have high confidence with respect to who conducted these attacks.” Last week, two oil tankers– Marshall Islands-flagged Front Altair and the Panama-flagged Kokuka Courageous– were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz. Shortly after the incident, the United States claimed that Tehran was responsible for the attack, a statement that was denounced by the latter earlier today. To back its claim, the US released a blurry video which, the country believed, showed the boat crew of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) removing an unexploded mine from one of the tankers shortly after the attack. The UK, in a statement, said that Iran should be held responsible for the attack on four oil tankers off the port of Fujairah last month.