Saudi Arabia denies responsibility for attack on Iranian oil tanker
A senior Saudi minister has denied that his country was behind a suspected missile attack on an Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea.
“We did not engage in such behaviour at all. This is not how we operate and that’s not how we did [it] in the past,” minister of state for foreign affairs Adel al-Jubeir told reporters. “The story is still not complete. So let’s wait and find out what happened before we jump to conclusions.”
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The tanker Sabiti, which belongs to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOL), was hit by two missiles while sailing in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia on Friday last week, Iranian state media reported.
Iran has described the incident as a “cowardly attack”, but said it would not issue a response until after the facts have been examined.
“Iran is avoiding haste, carefully examining what has happened and probing facts,” a government spokesperson told local media.
Separately, a senior security official said video evidence had provided leads about the incident.
“A special committee has been set up to investigate the attack on Sabiti… with two missiles and its report will soon be submitted to the authorities for decision,” said Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s top security body, told semi-official news agency Fars.
“Piracy and mischief on international waterways aimed at making commercial shipping insecure will not go unanswered.”
Saudi Arabia said it received a distress signal from Sabiti, but the tanker kept moving a switched off its transponder before it could provide assistance.
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The attack marks the latest incident involving oil tankers in the region and risks escalating tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The US has blamed Iran for attacks on tankers in the Gulf in May and June, as well as for strikes on Saudi oil strikes in September.
Main image credit: Getty