Saudi oil tankers show ‘significant damage’ after sabotage attack, says Riyadh

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that two of its oil tankers had been damaged in mysterious “sabotage attacks” in the Gulf, as Mike Pompeo rushed to Brussels to hold emergency talks with his European partners about the mounting tensions in the region. The US secretary of state will discuss the alleged attacks on the oil tankers and the status of the threat posed by Iran after its decision to pull out from parts of the nuclear deal signed in 2015. The escalating rhetoric is raising fears of a confrontation between Iran and the US, which is backed by its key Gulf allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Pompeo scrapped a planned visit to Moscow in favour of the Brussels meeting, but will go ahead with talks with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in Sochi. No side has taken responsibility for the sabotage, and mystery surrounds the identity of the ships. Tehran called for an investigation into the attacks and spoke of “adventurism” by foreign players to disrupt maritime security. Jeremy Hunt, the UK foreign secretary, called for calm in the Gulf, as he said there was a danger of conflict erupting by accident. The foreign ministry of Saudi Arabia [...]

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