• Home
• /
• World

A mine of evidence against Iran

Fujairah - Washington moves to isolate Tehran as it shows limpet mine fragments from damaged tanker that looked Iranian in origin.

The United States sought on Wednesday to bolster its case for isolating Iran over its nuclear and regional activities by showing limpet mine fragments it said came from a damaged oil tanker and saying the ordnance looked Iranian in origin.
In Fujairah, the US Navy displayed pieces of limpet mines and a magnet it said its personnel extracted from one of two oil tankers attacked in the Gulf of Oman last week.
The US military earlier released images it said showed Iranian Revolutionary Guards removing an unexploded mine from Japanese-owned tanker Kokuka Courageous, which was hit by blasts along with Norwegian-owned Front Altair tanker on June 13.
"The limpet mine that was used in the attack is distinguishable and also strikingly bearing a resemblance to Iranian mines that have already been publicly displayed in Iranian military parades," Sean Kido, commanding officer of an explosive ordnance dive and salvage task group in the US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), told reporters. The Japanese company that owns the Kokuka Courageous had said its ship was damaged by two "flying objects", but NAVCENT dismissed this.
"The damage at the blast hole is consistent with a limpet mine attack, it is not consistent with an external flying object striking the ship," Kido said, adding that nail holes visible in the hull indicated how the mine was attached to the ship's hull.