Meanwhile, the American press has accused Iran of attacking cargo ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. The news that several tankers were damaged by unidentified attackers was previously shared by the governments of the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Matvey Popov with the details.
The news that some mysterious attackers seriously damaged four oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz were shared by the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE this Monday.
Abdullah Darwish Al Hayas, General Manager of Maritime Transport: "This act of sabotage is being investigated. Indeed, the incident causes concern because it's a busy maritime traffic route, a vital sea corridor"/
And this is the way the alleged tanker attack was presented by the American media.
Hadley Gamble, TV host: "Two of these four vessels belong to Saudi Arabia and they received structural damage"/
Nobody explains how exactly the damage was inflicted. It could have been a bomb planted on board or an attack by special drones. The only clear thing is that the damage is severe. It's a miracle that there were no casualties, fires, or oil spills.
Martha Raddatz, TV host: "This comes at an extremely tense time in the region with the US warning just days ago that Iran or its proxies could be targeting maritime traffic in the Persian Gulf region"/
The Wall Street Journal doesn't resort to hints and goes further, confidently stating that according to the initial American assessment, Iran definitely had something to do with it. The paper doesn't specify why it came to this conclusion. Donald Trump was quick to deliver a new threat against Tehran but did it rather timidly: He says "we'll see" three times.
Donald Trump, President of the USA: "I hear that Iran might be involved and if they do something they'll greatly suffer for it. We'll see what happens to Iran. We'll see. It'll be a big problem for Iran. If something like that happens, they won't be happy about it".
Ultimately, the damaged vessels were exposed in the media. Satellite and later close-range images have been published. It turned out that all four tankers are perfectly seaworthy. Some dents can be seen but they are far less severe than the US claimed. By the way, the biggest dent was made in this Norwegian freighter. The Saudi and UAE ships sustained lesser damage.
The circumstances of the incident must still be investigated. Tehran was the first to call for an investigation. The way this story was covered by the American press only shows that the media prefers to sail in Washington's policy waterway, which continues to exert pressure against Iran deploying aircraft carriers, strategic bombers, and more troops to the Middle East, in addition to the sanctions. The US desperately needed an excuse to justify its aggressive behavior.
Matvey Popov, VESTI
