message appears to be: Don't you dare stand in the way of my war plans... — Trita Parsi (@tparsi) June 13, 2019

While the Trump White House has not yet publicly assigned blame for the alleged attacks, one anonymous Defense Department official told CBS News—without citing any evidence—that it is "highly likely Iran caused these attacks."

According to the Washington Post, "U.S. military officials have assessed that the attacks were carried out by Iran or forces under its influence." The officials have not provided any proof to support their claim.

"Whoever is behind the attacks is no friend of Iran."

—Julian Lee, Bloomberg

The effort to blame Iran for the tanker attacks on Thursday is reminiscent of the unsubstantiated accusations in May from Bolton and the U.S. intelligence community that Iran was behindseparate attacks on Saudi and UAE vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

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As the New York Times reported, it continues to be unclear who was behind last month's tanker attacks, despite Bolton's assertion at the time that Iran was "almost certainly" responsible.

Following Thursday's alleged attacks, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said "suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning" and expressed the urgent need for diplomacy.

Reported attacks on Japan-related tankers occurred while PM @AbeShinzo was meeting with Ayatollah @khamenei_ir for extensive and friendly talks. Suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning. Iran's proposed Regional Dialogue Forum is imperative. — Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 13, 2019

Another Iranian official told BBC