ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A US defense official believes it is "highly likely" Iran is behind the attacks of two vessels in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, while adding that Iranian claims of rescuing their crews are "patently false." Iraq has "condemned" the attacks, but not assigned blame.
An unnamed Pentagon official revealed the information to CBS News senior national security correspondent David Martin on Thursday, the major US news outlet reported.
The US defense official added that the USS Bainbridge, a guided missile destroyer, picked up 21 crew members.
He was unable to confirm reports of the tanker vessels being hit by torpedoes or limpet mines. US authorities are currently conducting investigations in the waterway near the Strait of Hormuz to attribute the source of the attacks.
The US official said any retaliation would depend upon the evidence linking the attacks to Iran.
The USS Bainbridge was nearby and "provided immediate assistance to the latter ship."
"Twenty-one mariners from the M/V [motor vessel] Kokuka Courageous, who abandoned ship, are currently aboard USS Bainbridge. A Navy P-8 is also providing support," CENTCOM detailed.
The two oil tankers in the globally strategic waterway were reportedly attacked on Thursday. Sailors were evacuated from both vessels, The Associated Press, among several other agencies, has reported.
Iran's state-run news agency IRNA reported that an informed but unnamed source said an Iranian vessel in coordination with the Iranian province of Hormuzgan's Maritime Search and Rescue Center rescued 44 sailors of two foreign oil tankers which were hit by explosions on Thursday.
The sailors reportedly were transported to Jask Port in the Iranian province that is situated opposite of Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman.
The tankers, according to IRNA's source, sailed under the flags of the Marshal Islands and Panama. The former was traveling from Qatar to Taiwan, while the latter from Saudi Arabia to Singapore.
Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs "condemned" the attacks on Thursday, but did not lay blame.
"The Iraqi Foreign Ministry condemns the attack on Abha civil airport in Saudi Arabia, as well as the two ships from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates," it said in a statement.
The ministry again reiterated Baghdad's position that it doesn't want to see the Middle East become a battlefield for anyone.
"Iraq affirms its stance against any aggression and rejection of the escalation in the region, calling for peaceful solutions to the crisis, rejecting the method of starving people, harming their security," the statement added.
The security of the waterway is strategic for Iraq, particularly for the southern port city of Basra.
"We strongly condemn the missile attack on Wednesday, June 12, 2019, against Abha airport in Saudi Kingdom which resulted in the injury of 26 civilians and a great [material] loss to the airport," read a KRG statement published on Thursday.
It wished "recovery" for the injured and made no mention of Thursday's incidents in the Gulf of Oman.
Iranian officials did not immediately claim the attacks. Its foreign minister called the timing of the incidents beyond "suspicious."
"Reported attacks on Japan-related tankers occurred while PM @AbeShinzo was meeting with Ayatollah @khamenei_ir for extensive and friendly talks.
"Suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning.
"Iran's proposed Regional Dialogue Forum is imperative," FM Javad Zarif tweeted on Thursday.
In a similar incident on May 12, four vessels including two Saudi oil tankers were damaged in incidents which were described as “sabotage attacks.” US National Security Advisor John Bolton has alleged Iran is behind the attacks.
The reported incidents come as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is meeting with top-level officials in Tehran to discuss the possibility of being an intermediary between Iran and the United States.
After meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday, Abe cautioned that "accidental conflict" is possible between the United States and Iran.
On Thursday, Abe met Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who dismissed the possibility of Iran being willing to negotiate with the US administration because of the character of its President Donald Trump.
“I do not see the person of Trump worthy of exchanging any messages and I have no response for him and will not have any,” Khamenei told Abe, according to a statement published on the supreme leader’s website.
Abe is travelling to Tehran this week hoping to use the opportunity reduce tensions between Iran and the United States.
