U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia John Abizaid has a message for anyone responsible for the attacks on oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates: We’ll find out who you are and will respond in kind, Middle East Online reported.
Abizaid said Washington should take what he called “reasonable responses short of war” when the investigation concludes, the report said.
Although Washington has no conclusive proof, Middle East Online reported, a U.S. official familiar with American intelligence said, Iran was the prime suspect in the sabotage Sunday.
The Iranians have denied any involvement, the website reported.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, Abizaid said: "We need to do a thorough investigation to understand what happened, why it happened, and then come up with reasonable responses short of war,” Middle East Online reported.
He added: "It's not in (Iran's) interest, it's not in our interest, it's not in Saudi Arabia's interest to have a conflict.”
In the incident, four commercial vessels – including two Saudi oil tankers – were sabotaged on Sunday near Fujairah, one of the seven emirates of the UAE and a bunkering hub just outside the Strait of Hormuz, the website reported. UAE authorities did not say who was behind the attack.
Distancing Tehran from the incident, Iran's Foreign Ministry Mohammad Javad Zarif called the incident "worrisome and dreadful,” Middle East Online reported.
Iran is in the midst of a war of words with the United States over sanctions and the US military presence in the region, the report said.
After quitting the 2015 nuclear pact – known as the JCPOA – Washington has increased sanctions on Tehran, saying it wants to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero, Middle East Online reported.
Last week, the U.S. Maritime Administration said Iran could target U.S. commercial ships including oil tankers sailing through Middle East waterways, the report said. Tehran has called the US military presence "a target" rather than a threat.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shared information – believed to be obtained from Israel’s Mossad – of what he called escalating threats from Iran during meetings with EU counterparts and the head of NATO in Brussels on Monday, the U.S. special representative for Iran Brian Hook said, the report said.
Hook declined to say whether he believed Iran played a role in the attacks off Fujairah or if Pompeo blamed Iran, the website reported. He said the UAE had sought U.S. help in the investigation.
– WN.com, Jack Durschlag