Japanese tank owner be like
Trump: “We’ll see what happens with Iran. If they do anything it’ll be a very bad mistake, if they do anything.”
Iran: “The US and its regional allies (Israel, Saudis and Gulf Wahhabis) must stop warmongering and put an end to mischievous plots and false flag operations in the region.”
“I was a CIA director, we lied, we cheated we stole… like, we had entire training courses. ~ Mike Pompeo
“the Islamic Republic of Iran was responsible for the attacks that occurred in the Gulf of Oman today” ~ Mike Pompeo
The incident follows another episode in May, when four tankers were damaged near a UAE port allegedly as a result of explosions. While Abu Dhabi dubbed the incident an “act of sabotage”, the US has outright accused Iran of being behind it. Tehran has denied the accusations.
Just as the prime minister of Japan was in an historic visit to Iran (the first since the 1979 revolution), a Japanese-owned tanker (and one other) was attacked in the Persian Gulf. US neocons are pointing the finger at Iran. Does it make sense to attack Japan in the midst of productive talks?
Yutaka Katada, the owner of one of the stricken fuel tankers crippled in explosions in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, says the U.S. is wrong (he means lying, fabricating) about the way the attack was carried out.
Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday, he contradicted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the U.S. Navy, which released a video that purports to show an Iranian patrol boat removing a limpet mine from the port side of the Kokuka Courageous. Katada said his ship was attacked on the starboard side by a flying object, not by a mine.
“It seems that something flew towards them. That created the hole, is the report I’ve received,” Katada said, according to the Financial Times. “It seems there was a high chance they were attacked by a flying object.
The impact was well above the water. I don’t think it was a torpedo.” The Japanese ship owner did not say who might be responsible for the attack. Iran has vehemently denied it was involved.*
The assessment, predictable from a mile away, squares perfectly with CIA veteran Mike Pompeo’s warning from just two days before the alleged attack, in which he said that “The regime in Tehran should understand that any attacks by them or their proxies of any identity against US interests or citizens will be answered with a swift and decisive US response,” the US Secretary of State wrote in a statement warning that Iran should not mistake US “restraint” for a “lack of resolve,” and criticizing Iran for “an escalating series of threatening actions and statements in recent weeks.”
Two days later Iran – according to US officials – staged the most brazen attack on oil tankers in the Straits of Hormuz in years.
