The incident began early Sunday morning and now may become a major crisis, increasing the already fraught tensions between the US and Iran. The US has warned Iran of repercussions if it or its allies attack the US.
The AP story that satellite images don’t show damage to Gulf of Oman ships is interesting but the whole nature of satellites, by being above the ship, wouldn’t reveal a small 10-foot hole at the waterline anyway...my drawing... pic.twitter.com/Bpkguwv5r4
— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) May 14, 2019
The AP reported on Monday night that “an American military team’s initial assessment is that Iranian or Iranian-backed proxies used explosives Sunday to blow large holes in four ships.” The holes were around five to ten feet wide, similar to the one in the Norwegian Andrea Victory. Norway’s Aftenposten reported on Tuesday that none of the crew of the ship were injured and the hole was in the rear of the ship in a ballast tank.The attack took place near the entrance to the Straits of Hormuz, a major shipping lane which Iran has threatened to close in the past.“That the goal of the action has been to paralyze the Emirates economy is not at all unthinkable and very possible,” Thina Seltvedt, an oil analyst at Nordea Markets, told Aftenposten.
VIDEO: Detailed footage shows extent of damage to tanker ships in #PersianGulfhttps://t.co/9SXtI7aMlu pic.twitter.com/yE1YKUvdji
— RT (@RT_com) May 14, 2019
RT published a video of the Tuesday incident showing no major damage to the four ships that had been sabotaged and images showed damage to the Norwegian flagged ship.
Al-Jarida in Kuwait says the incident could destabilize the region.Meanwhile, the movement of ships continues normally, the UAE says, regarding Fujairah port. The sabotage took place several kilometers at sea off the port where dozens of ships are anchored.Al-Arabiya in Saudi Arabia carried the anonymous US report.Reuters contributed to this story.