Suspicious nature of tanker attacks 'not funny, but alarming'

On Thursday morning, two oil tankers – one sailing under a Panama flag and owned by Japan and another bearing the Marshall Islands’ ensign – were hit by yet unspecified accidents in the Sea of Oman. Iranian rescuers rushed to the assistance, transferring all of their 44 crew members to Iran's southern shores.

Following the attack, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of carrying out the attacks without providing any evidence to back up his accusation.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for ensuring the security of the Strait of Hormuz, and we showed this by rushing to save the sailors of the incident-hit vessels in the shortest time possible," Mousavi said Friday. 

"Pinning the blame on Iran for the suspicious and regrettable incident for the oil tankers seems to be the easiest and most simplistic thing Mr Pompeo and other US statesmen could do," he noted.

"While the Japanese prime minister is meeting with Iran's top leader to discuss ways to ease regional tensions, which clandestine hands have been at work to undermine such efforts and who benefits from that?" the spokesman asked.

"Mr Pompeo! The suspicious nature of incidents for oil tankers is not a joke. It is not only not funny, but it is also worrying and alarming," Mousavi added.

MS/MFA