{"id":1199,"date":"2019-06-18T03:26:14","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T02:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=1199"},"modified":"2019-06-18T03:26:14","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T02:26:14","slug":"flying-object-struck-tanker-in-gulf-of-oman-operator-says-not-a-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=1199","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Flying Object\u2019 Struck Tanker in Gulf of Oman, Operator Says, Not a Mine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yutaka Katada, the president of the Japanese shipping company Kokuka Sangyo, in Tokyo on Friday with a photograph of the Kokuka Courageous, one of two ships attacked in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday.\u00a0 <\/span>Jae C. Hong\/Associated Press<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

By\u00a0Ben Dooley<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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TOKYO \u2014 One of the tankers that were attacked in the Gulf of Oman was struck by a flying object, the ship\u2019s Japanese operator said on Friday, expressing doubt that a mine had been attached to its hull.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that\u00a0American intelligence agencies had concluded that Tehran was behind the disabling of two tankers\u00a0in the Gulf of Oman, a vital conduit for much of the world\u2019s oil. Iranian officials denied any involvement in the events, which have escalated tensions in the region.<\/p>\n

[Read: U.S. Says Video Shows Iran Was Involved<\/em>]<\/p>\n

In an interview broadcast on Friday by \u201cFox & Friends,\u201d President Trump directly accused Tehran,\u00a0saying, \u201cIran did do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou saw the boat,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has Iran written all over it.\u201d Mr. Trump added: \u201cThey didn\u2019t want the evidence left behind. They don\u2019t know that we have things that we can detect in the dark that work very well. We have that. It was them that did it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

American officials released video on Thursday that they said showed an Iranian boat crew, hours after the attack, removing a limpet mine attached to the hull of the damaged Kokuka Courageous, a tanker operated by the Japanese company Kokuka Sangyo.<\/div>\n
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But\u00a0Yutaka Katada,\u00a0the company\u2019s president, citing accounts from the ship\u2019s crew, said Friday: \u201cI do not think there was a time bomb or an object attached to the side of the ship.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Paths of the Oil Tankers<\/h2>\n

Two oil tankers, the Kokuka Courageous and the Front Altair, were attacked in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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Mr. Pompeo did not say that mines had caused the two holes in the tanker\u2019s hull that were visible in photographs released by the American military. Senior American officials have said that mines were used in attacks last month on four ships in the same area, which the United States has also accused Iran of carrying out.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur crew said that the ship was attacked by a flying object,\u201d Mr. Katada said of the incident on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n