Two "flying objects" damaged a Japanese tanker owned by Kokuka Sangyo Co in an attack on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, but there was no damage to the cargo of methanol, the company president said on Friday. The Kokuka Courageous is now sailing toward the port of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the crew having returned to the ship after evacuating because of the incident, Kokuka President Yutaka Katada told a press conference. It was being escorted by the US Navy, he said. "The crew told us something came flying at the ship, and they found a hole," Katada said. "Then some crew witnessed the second shot." Katada said there was no possibility that the ship, carrying 25,000 tons of methanol, was hit by a torpedo. The United States has blamed Iran for attacking the Kokuka Courageous and another tanker, the Norwegian-owned Front Altair, on Thursday, but Tehran has denied the allegations. The ship's crew saw an Iranian military ship in the vicinity on Thursday night Japan time, Katada said. Katada said he did not believe Kokuka Courageous was targeted because it was owned by a Japanese firm. The tanker is registered in Panama and was flying a Panamanian flag, he said. "Unless very carefully examined, it would be hard to tell the tanker was operated or owned by Japanese," he said. The tanker was attacked near the Strait of Hormuz, a major strategic waterway through which about one-fifth of global oil consumption passes on its way from Middle Eastern producers including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait as well as Iran. "This strait is very crucial. Without this route we cannot transport gasoline and heavy oil to Japan," Katada said. "Unless another major incident occurs, as long as we get approval from our crew, we will continue operating our tankers via this route to Saudi Arabia." Japanese Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said on Friday that the incidents will be discussed at a meeting of G20 energy and environment ministers this weekend. Meanwhile, the UAE said Friday that twin attacks on tankers in the Sea of Oman just weeks after four ships were damaged off the UAE coast marked a dangerous escalation". "The attack against the tankers in the Gulf of Oman is a worrying development and a dangerous escalation," the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, tweeted after Thursday's blasts. Gargash also condemned a Yemeni rebel missile attack, which wounded 26 civilians at an airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. He said the "blatant attack on civilians" was only the latest in a spate of rebel assaults "undermining the UN's political work & sending a message of continuing violence & hostility". These developments "must spur the international community to act to maintain peace and security in the region", Gargash said. "The responsibility for avoiding an escalation is collective." US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there was strong evidence of Iran's culpability, after US Central Command said it has seen an Iranian patrol boat removing an "unexploded limpet mine" from the hull of one of the vessels. Also Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said there was no reason not to believe the United States' assessment that Iran was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers. "We are going to make our own independent assessment, we have our processes to do that, (but) we have no reason not to believe the American assessment and our instinct is to believe it because they are our closest ally," Hunt told BBC radio on Friday, echoing comments he made late on Thursday. In Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry said Friday that nobody wants war in the Gulf of Oman while calling on all sides to exercise restraint following attacks on oil tankers in those waters, and urging the resolution of differences through dialogue. China was concerned about the rising tension, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. "Nobody wants to see war in the Gulf. That is not in anyone's interest," he told a regular news briefing in Beijing, adding that China hoped all sides could resolve differences via dialogue. "We hope all relevant parties remain calm and exercise restraint and avoid tensions further escalating, and hope all sides can jointly safeguard navigational safety in the relevant waters and regional peace and stability." China would continue to safeguard its energy security and the lawful rights of its companies, Geng added. — Agencies
