{"id":36287,"date":"2019-06-13T20:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T20:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/06\/13\/why-would-iran-attack-two-tankers-near-the-strait-of-hormuz\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:57:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:57:29","slug":"why-would-iran-attack-two-tankers-near-the-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/06\/13\/why-would-iran-attack-two-tankers-near-the-strait-of-hormuz\/","title":{"rendered":"Why would Iran attack two tankers near the Strait of Hormuz?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a brief press conference Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed no doubt about who attacked two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, saying Iran was \u201cresponsible for the attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did not, however, immediately offer any proof of the intelligence behind that assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attack certainly bears the hallmark and capabilities of previous aggressive actions undertaken by Iran and its paramilitary cohorts in the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But questions abound over who actually stands to benefit most from an attack in a region beset by violence and convoluted proxy conflicts raged between and Iran and Saudi Arabia and its allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was the attack carried out by Iran, or other Gulf States seeking to sow conflict \u2015 or did the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operate outside of Tehran\u2019s directives to further its own agenda?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN reported<\/a>, citing a U.S. defense official, that the crew of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile Bainbridge reported seeing an unexploded limpet mine on the side of one of the tankers involved in Thursday\u2019s attack in the Gulf of Oman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A limpet mine was believed to be the cause of an attack on four tankers in May off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, which the U.S. pinned on Iran, according to the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No state or group has claimed responsibility for the attacks on the tankers, one of which was carrying oil to Japan, whose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was on a diplomatic mission in Iran to help ease tensions in the region. The attacks occurred in the Gulf of Oman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Javid Zarif, Iran\u2019s foreign minister, tweeted that \u201csuspicious doesn\u2019t begin to describe what likely transpired this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And both Iran and the U.S. claimed to have rescued sailors of the damaged tankers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Navy put out a statement saying it had received two separate distress signals and that the Bainbridge \u201crendered assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t