Oil Tanker Owner Contradicts White House On Explosive In Mideast Ship Attack
The company that owns one of the two oil tankers attacked Thursday near the Strait of Hormuz contradicted Trump administration and U.S. military reports linking the incident to an Iranian sea mine.
U.S. Central Command said that the Norwegian-owned MT Front Altair and the Japanese Kokula Courageous were attacked Thursday by a limpet mine, which is attached to ships below the water line. The military released a video that officials claimed showed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps patrol boat removing an unexploded mine from the 560-foot Courageous.
But an official of the company that owns the Courageous said Friday that the vessel appeared to be struck in the Gulf of Oman by something that “flew towards the ship,” NBC reported.
“We received reports that something flew towards the ship,” Yutaka Katada, president of Kokaku Sangyo Co., said at a press conference, according to NBC. “The place where the projectile landed was significantly higher than the water level, so we are absolutely sure that this wasn’t a torpedo. I do not think there was a time bomb or an object attached to the side of the ship.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oil-tanker-gulf-of-oman-iran-explosion-trump-administration_n_5d0415c3e4b0dc17ef09f629
