"First of all, we would like to thank the Iranian authorities for assistance in rescuing eleven Russian mariners, crewmembers of one of the tankers (Front Altair)," the Russian foreign ministry was quoted by Tass news agency as saying in a statement on Friday. "All of them were promptly evacuated from the burning vessel and taken to the port of Jask."
"Moscow resolutely condemns the attacks whoever might be behind them," the ministry stressed. "We think it necessary to refrain from quick conclusions. It is inadmissible to place responsibility for the incident on anyone until a thorough and unbiased international investigation is over."
"We are worried over the tensions in the Gulf of Oman. We take note of deliberate efforts to whip up tensions, which are largely encouraged by the United States’ Iranophobic policy," the ministry noted. "We call on all the parties to show restraint."
The ministry once again emphasized that there is no alternative to dialogue to prevent further degradation of the situation in the region.
On Thursday morning, two oil tankers – one sailing under a Panama flag and owned by Japan and another bearing the Marshall Islands’ ensign owned by Norwegian Frontline – 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 rushed to accuse Iran of carrying out the attacks without providing any evidence to back up his accusation.
In a statement on Thursday, the Iranian mission to the UN strongly rejected the “unfounded” US claims, warning of "another Iranophobic campaign" being waged by Washington and its allies.
Meanwhile, a UN Security Council held on Thursday to address the incident concluded with no results, despite the US efforts to pin the blame on Iran.
MNA/TASS
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