The US military has released video footage it says shows an Iranian military patrol boat approach one of two tankers attacked in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, to support the Trump administration’s claims that Iran was responsible.
The blurry black and white footage, taken from the air, shows a small military boat alongside a tanker and someone stand up on the prow of the boat to remove an object from the tanker’s hull. The small boat then pulls away from the tanker. US officials were quoted as saying the boat was an Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boat approaching the tanker after it was attacked, and the object removed was an unexploded limpet mine.
It was unclear whether it was being alleged the Iranian sailors were detaching the mine in order to remove evidence. The incident added to security fears over oil tankers traveling out of the Persian Gulf, and appeared to have snuffed out a Japanese-led mediation effort. One of the tankers attacked on Thursday was Japanese owned.
The US military also released a photo it claimed showed a mine on the side of the tanker and some damage to the hull.