page_title: June 2019 Gulf of Oman incident
section_title: Investigation
hierarchical_section_title: June 2019 Gulf of Oman incident / Investigation
caption_attribution_description: English: Magnet attached to the hull of the Kokuka Courageous after the, allegedly part of an Iranian limpet mine.
context_page_description: On 13 June 2019, two oil tankers were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz while they transited the Gulf of Oman. The Kokuka Courageous, flagged in Panama and operated by a company based in Japan, and Front Altair, flagged in Marshall Islands and operated by a company based in Norway, were attacked, allegedly with limpet mines or flying objects, sustaining fire damage. American and Iranian military personnel responded and rescued crew members. The attacks took place a month after the similar May 2019 Gulf of Oman incident and on the same day the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in Iran. Abe was acting as an intermediary between American President Donald Trump and Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
  Amid heightened tension between Iran and the United States, the United States blamed Iran for the attacks. Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom supported the United States' accusation. Germany has stated that there is "strong evidence" that Iran was responsible for the attacks, while Japan has asked for more proof of Iran's culpability. Iran denied the accusation, blaming the United States for spreading disinformation and warmongering.
context_section_description: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on the day of the incident that Iran was responsible for the attack. He based this assessment on "intelligence, the weapons used, the expertise needed" and "recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping". The New York Times reported that experts believe that Iran would carry out such an attack to hit back at the United States while maintaining enough ambiguity to avoid a direct counterattack. The Iranian government, in response, denied any and all responsibility and criticized the accusation. Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan remarked that the U.S. wanted to "build international consensus to this international problem", partly by declassifying and releasing intelligence.
  On 13 June, the U.S. military released a video which it said shows members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded mine from the side of Kokuka Courageous at 4.10pm local time. The patrol boat shown in the video matched the model and dimensions of patrol boats used by the Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with an identical chevron pattern, center console, and anti-aircraft gun. Iran called the U.S. accusations that it attacked the ships baseless.
  On 14 June, the head of the company that owns Kokuka Courageous, Yutaka Katada, stated that the crew members "are saying that they were hit by a flying object. They saw it with their own eyes." Then, "some crew witnessed a second shot". He said he believed the incident could not have been a torpedo attack, because the ship was hit above the waterline, and that he was more likely to believe a penetrating bullet hit it than a mine. He clarified this was "just an assumption or a guess."
  Also on 14 June, the Tasnim News Agency reported that Hormozgan Province's port director stated that early investigations indicated that the fires broke out due to technical reasons and that there is no proof that an external object hit either ship.
  Iran's United Nations mission issued a statement wherein it called on the United States and its regional allies to "put an end to mischievous plots and false flag operations in the region." Analyst François Heisbourg stated "There's a lot of suspicion in Europe about American motives. The maritime milieu is especially susceptible to manipulation – remember the Gulf of Tonkin." Analyst Anthony Cordesman raised "the possibility that ISIS (Daesh) carried out the attack as trigger to turn two enemies – the United States and Iran – against each other. Or you're watching Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates create an incident that they could then use to increase the pressure on Iran."
  On 17 June, the Pentagon released new images which, according to it, were taken from an MH-60R Navy surveillance helicopter of the aftermath of alleged Iranian attack on tankers in the Gulf of Oman. They again allegedly showed IRGC members removing an unexploded limpet mine.
caption: Magnet attached to the side of Kokuka Courageous, allegedly left over from the removed limpet mine
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