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Tanker attacks point to only one suspect despite denials

The saboteurs of the tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman have not been clearly identified. So far, the US has produced a grainy, black-and-white video and a few color photographs of a patrol boat from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps removing an unexploded limpet mine from the Japanese tanker. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the video proves Iran's guilt. Iran says it was rushing to prevent more damage and to rescue 44 innocent seamen.
Conclusive proof is unlikely to emerge. Both France and Britain say the evidence points to Iran, but critics of US foreign policy argue that Iran may be blameless. One such sceptic is Britain's opposition Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who could soon be his country's prime minister and who now demands "credible evidence" of Iranian responsibility. Corbyn, of course, tends to support any opponent of America, from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to Russian President Vladimir Putin (he initially refused to accept that Russia was involved in the poisoning of a Russian defector in the English city of Salisbury in 2018).
Where Corbyn leads, others on the far left will doubtless follow. If credibility is the issue, why not ask that lawyerly question "cui bono" - who benefits? Iran might seem the likeliest candidate.
- Project Syndicate