U.S. actions pose a serious threat to stability in the Middle East, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told the leaders of a China-led security bloc including Russia and India on Friday.
The United States blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday that drove up oil prices and raised concern about a new U.S.-Iranian confrontation. Iran denied any connection with the attacks.
Rouhani did not mention the attacks but focussed his criticism on U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal last year from world powers’ 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
He said Iran continued to honour the accord. “Iran asks the remaining participants in the nuclear deal to immediately [meet] their commitments,” Rouhani told the meeting in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.
Today Iran said it was responsible for maintaining the security of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, state radio reported, adding that blaming Tehran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman was alarming.
“We are responsible for ensuring the security of the Strait and we have rescued the crew of those attacked tankers in the shortest possible time,” Radio quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying.
“Obviously, accusing Iran for such a suspicious and unfortunate incident is the simplest and the most convenient way for (U.S. Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo and other U.S. officials. These accusations are alarming.”