US gov narrative blaming Iran for oil tanker attacks falls apart in hours
June 15, 2019 in News by RBN Staff
Source: thegrayzone.com
By Ben Norton
The Donald Trump administration’s evidence-less accusations against Iran have fallen apart within a matter of hours. But these US allegations did manage to disrupt an important meeting of Asian leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, where Tehran was hoping to make diplomatic breakthroughs to ease a crippling American economic blockade.
On Thursday, June 13, two oil tankers traveling through the Gulf of Oman on their way to Japan suffered from mysterious explosions. The cause of the incident was not clear.
The US government claimed without evidence that Iran was responsible for supposed “attacks” on the vessels. Trump administration officials accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of damaging a Japanese tanker with a mine.
But by the morning of Friday, June 14, the narrative had been debunked, with the Japanese cargo company Kokuka Sangyo telling journalists that the US government’s version of the story was simply bogus.
“The crew is saying that it was hit by a flying object,” explained the president of the company, Yutaka Katada. “They are saying that something came flying.”
“To put a bomb on the side is something that we are not thinking,” he added, in comments at a press conference.
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UPDATE: The owner of the Kokuka Courageous tanker says its crew saw “flying objects” before the attack, suggesting the ship wasn’t damaged by mines
TicToc by Bloomberg✔@tictoc
The president of Japanese ship operator Kokuka Sangyo says its crew saw a “flying object” before the tanker attack near the Strait of Hormuz.
