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Trump’s Critics Wary Even as They Agree Iran Is at Fault in Attacks

The burden of proof is on the U.S. to back up its claims that Iran was behind a spate of attacks on the oil tankers.

Trump’s Critics Wary Even as They Agree Iran Is at Fault in Attacks
Mike Pompeo, U.S. secretary of state, speaks during a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S. (Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- From Democratic lawmakers in Washington to Germany’s chancellor, skeptics of Donald Trump’s foreign policy are starting to agree the evidence is strong that Iran was behind attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

It’s an acknowledgment that came with criticism of the American president’s confrontational stance toward Iran and concern that the U.S. may be headed toward war with the Islamic Republic.

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff told reporters Wednesday that there’s “little question” that Iran was responsible for the attacks and the intelligence is “very strong.”

But the California Democrat added that Iran’s actions were “predictable” given Trump’s withdrawal from the international nuclear accord and his imposition of tough sanctions. He said the U.S. needs to “protect shipping” in concert with allies but that a war with Iran would be “utterly catastrophic.”

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday he’s “continuing to get updates, but I believe the Iranians are responsible.” He acknowledged that it’s more challenging to deal “with this White House, where the president has a history of tweeting things that aren’t true.”

It’s a step forward for U.S. officials who met resistance with their original offering of evidence that Iran was responsible for the spate of attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping choke point through which about 40% of the world’s seaborne oil travels. Iran has denied culpability, suggesting it was framed in attacks staged by its enemies.

Blaming Iran

“There is strong evidence” Iran is to blame, Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin Tuesday. “But that does not prevent me from saying that we must do everything to solve the conflict with Iran in a peaceful way.”

Merkel has been among world leaders who opposed Trump’s decision to quit the multinational nuclear accord with Iran and have sought with little success to sidestep the sanctions that had suspended under the nuclear deal but were reimposed by Trump.

In the continuing effort to make the U.S. case, the Navy presented what he said was evidence of Iran’s involvement Wednesday at a U.S. Naval Forces Central Command facility near the Port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. It was the most detailed assessment made public since the incidents.

Commander Sean Kido, an explosives expert at the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, said the attack on the Japanese-operated vessel, the Kokuka Courageous, was carried out by a limpet mine planted on the tanker’s body above the water line.

Kido said his team of investigators recovered a magnet used to attach the limpet mine to the skin of the ship. It also retrieved a handprint and fingerprints from near the spot where the magnet was found.

“The limpet mine that was used in the attack is distinguishable and it’s also strikingly bearing a resemblance to Iranian mines that have already been publicly displayed in Iranian military parades,” Kido said. “We recovered biometric information which can be used to build a criminal case to hold the individual responsible.”

Still, he stopped short of directly blaming Iran and presented no evidence about a second attack that same day on the Norwegian-owned Front Altair ship.

U.S. Central Command earlier released video footage of what it said was an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps patrol boat removing an unexploded mine from the Kokuka Courageous after another mine was detonated and damaged the vessel. The blurry footage showing a small boat pulling up next to the tanker and the crew removing an object from its hull was taken by U.S. aircraft in the region.

Although Trump has said “Iran did it,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation because “it is very important to know the truth.”

Trump’s Critics Wary Even as They Agree Iran Is at Fault in Attacks

The evidence provided by the U.S. suggests that Iran may have been trying to send a signal, not start a war.

“The mine was placed above the water and it does not appear that the intention was to sink the vessel,” Kido said.

A round magnet as well as several fragments of materials recovered from the Kokuka Courageous were laid out on a white tablecloth for reporters. It was part of the evidence collected by U.S. investigators who arrived at the scene after the blast, officials said.

Two nail holes were also visible in one section of the vessel, which the Navy’s expert said were used to attach the mines.

The team also recovered the “fragmentations caused by the detonation of the limpet mine which is composed of an aluminum material as well as a composite material,” Kido said.

The expert contradicted statements made by the ship’s Japanese owner who said the damage to the hull was caused by a projectile. As to why a magnet was left behind, an official suggested it might have been hard to remove. Sailors described seeing two men use a crowbar to pry it loose.

“The damage at the blast hole is consistent with a limpet mine attack,” Kido said. “It’s not consistent with an external flying object striking the ship.”

--With assistance from Verity Ratcliffe and Arne Delfs.

To contact the reporters on this story: Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net;Zainab Fattah in Dubai at zfattah@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, ;Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert, Anna Edgerton

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