US President Donald Trump is blaming Iran for attacks on oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. But he’s also hoping that implicit US threats to use force will yield talks with the Islamic Republic as the Pentagon considers beefing up defences in the Persian Gulf area.
A day after explosions blew holes in two oil tankers just outside Iran’s territorial waters, rattling international oil markets, the administration seemed caught between pressure to punish Iran and reassure Washington’s Gulf Arab allies without drawing the US closer to war.
Trump said on June 14 on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” that “Iran did it.” And the US military released video it said showed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded mine from one of the oil tankers.
