-A suspected attack on two tankers
in the Gulf of Oman on June
13th apparently took place in broad daylight,
raising fears that the United States and Iran
could be moving closer to military conflict.
Plumes of smoke from the damaged ships
can be seen on satellite imagery of the area.
It wasn't immediately clear who was behind the attacks,
but US military officials said they were carried out
by Iran or forces under its influence.
The ships are owned by Japan
and a Norwegian oil shipment company.
-Iran is lashing out because the regime wants
our successful maximum-pressure campaign lifted.
No economic sanctions entitle the Islamic republic
to attack innocent civilians, disrupt global oil markets,
and engage in nuclear blackmail.
-The incident marks a serious escalation
in tensions between the United States and Iran
in the Persian Gulf,
one of the world's most important waterways for oil.
This is the second assault in a month on tankers in the area.
On May 12th, two Saudi Arabian oil tankers
and a Norwegian ship were damaged off the coast
of the United Arab Emirates.
US officials blamed Iran,
while Iran denied any involvement.
-This is the second one, incident like this,
that has happened in that area in the last month
or so since the United States removed all waivers
allowing third countries to buy oil from Iran
and that has intensified the economic squeeze.
They're basically trying to enforce a total economic oil
embargo on all Iranian oil sales and completely shut it down,
get it to zero.
And Iran, as you can imagine, is very unhappy with this.
Ever since this has happened,
there has been a gradual ratcheting up of tensions.
-I'm hearing little stories about Iran.
If they do anything, they will suffer greatly.
We'll see what happens with Iran.
-[Americans say], "We are ready for honest negotiations".
We, in no way, believe such statements.
Honest negotiation can't come from a person like Trump.
-And, now, this happening, the second in a month,
is making people concerned
that it could be pushing the two countries,
Iran and the the United States,
to the brink of military conflict.
-The Persian Gulf has long been a flash point
for tensions between the United States and Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz is the main conduit for the oil
exported from the gulf countries to the rest of the world.
It's bordered by Iran and Oman and, at its narrowest point,
the strait's shipping lane is just two miles wide.
-So much of the world's oil goes through that,
if it's disrupted for any reason,
then oil prices could soar.
A lot of this happened during the 1980s,
when there was a war between Iran and Iraq
and, you know, they were called the Tanker Wars.
And so there's a concern that this could be something
that everybody is starting to feel in their pocketbook soon.
-Figures from 2017 and 2018 show that nearly a fifth of oil
used worldwide passed through the strait.
Iran has made repeated threats to close the strait.
Experts estimate that, if the waterway were inaccessible,
the world's overall oil supplies would drop by around 20%.
Oil prices would immediately spike and many say,
given the global economic repercussions,
the United States and the other countries
would likely take military action.
Iran has several naval bases in the Persian Gulf,
but the United States also has a military presence in the region
and the Navy's 5th Fleet is headquartered in Bahrain.
In early May, National Security Advisor John Bolton
said the US was deploying an aircraft carrier
and a bomber task force to the region
at a deterrent against Iranian aggression.
-It has certainly gained a lot of attention
when a aircraft carrier was deployed there,
but it was already en route,
so it just rushed up a little bit.
There were some troops that were deployed there
a month or so ago, after the last tanker attack,
but it was a few hundred.
So it's not really a huge amount of troops, yet.
The Iranians appear to be betting on the fact
that President Trump does not seem
to want to get bogged down in another Middle East war.
And so, if, indeed, Iran is behind it and they do deny it,
but, if Iran is behind it,
then it could be they're trying to call his bluff.