PENTAGON -
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan said the U.S. is trying to build "international consensus" in the Middle East after an attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.“We obviously need to make contingency plans should the situation deteriorate, but we also need to broaden our support for this international situation,” Shanahan said Friday.
The U.S. blames Iran for the attack, and the military has provided video that it says shows people on an Iranian patrol boat removing an unexploded limpet mine from the hull of the Kokuka Courageous tanker.
The vessel is owned by Kokuka Sangyo, a Japanese shipping company, and the other tanker, Front Altair, is owned by Frontline, a Norwegian company.
Frontline CEO Robert Hvide Macleod told VOA the company is in close contact with the crew, who are in Iranian custody, and they are being treated very well.
MacLeod added that the Front Altair is drifting safely and towing was to begin soon.
Frontline said a rescue tug equipped with towing capability reached the Front Altair at noon on June 14 and two further support vessels will arrive on scene on June 15 with a specialist team to inspect the tanker and make recommendations.
A U.S. official, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity, said Iranian fast attack craft were preventing two tug boats, which the Norwegian company had hired, from towing the Front Altair away.
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The crew was taken into Iranian custody after a civilian craft, the Hyundai Dubai, rescued them.
According to a U.S. defense official, the master of the Hyundai Dubai vessel told American forces that Iranian forces surrounded his ship and "demanded" the crew of the Altair be released to them. The master said he felt "obligated and compelled" to comply, despite the crew's company instructing his ship not to turn the crew over to Iran.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that Iran's navy rescued 44 crew members from the tankers.
Both ships appear to have been struck by mines.
The U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet received distress calls from both stricken tankers about an hour apart. The guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge approached the Dutch tug Coastal Ace, which had rescued the crew of 21 sailors from the Kokuka Courageous after the unexploded mine was discovered on the hull and they abandoned ship.
At the request of the master of the Kokuka Courageous, the sailors remained on the USS Bainbridge for several hours and were returned to their ship on Friday to go with it to port, said Army Lt. Col. Earl Brown, a spokesman for the U.S. military’s Central Command.
Brown said a large tug boat from the UAE was now moving the Kokuka toward Fujaira, which may take several days. The USS Bainbridge and USS Mason remain nearby to "keep an eye out" for the crew's safety, he added.
Japan condemned the attacks, which occurred as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Iran in an effort to ease tensions in the region.
The head of the Kokuka Sangyo shipping company said their ship had been attacked twice, with one explosion near the engine room and another on the right hand side, near the back.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Yutaka Katada said crew members reported they saw a "flying object" just before the second blast on board.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Thursday the timing of the latest apparent attacks was "beyond suspicious" because the Japanese prime minister was in Tehran meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Friday, Zarif tweeted the U.S. “immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran without a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence.” Zarif also accused the U.S. of engaging in “sabotage diplomacy” during Abe’s visit to Iran.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the attacks were “deeply worrying” and that Britain believes Iran was behind the attacks. “While we will be making our own assessment soberly and carefully, our starting point is obviously to believe our U.S. allies,” Hunt said in a statement.
China said it was deeply concerned about tensions in the region and called for restraint. “Nobody wants to see war in the Gulf,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. “We hope all relevant parties remain calm and exercise restraint.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced his concern about the rising tensions in the region.
"The world cannot afford a major confrontation in the Gulf," he said.
