Iraq explosives experts working to neutralize mine on oil tanker

Iraqi explosives experts were working on Friday to defuse a large mine discovered on an oil tanker in the Arabian Gulf and evacuate its crew.

It came a day after two private security firms said sailors feared they had found a limpet mine on the MT Pola, a Liberian-flagged tanker in the waters off the Iraqi port of Basra.

A limpet mine is a type of naval mine that attaches to the side of a ship, usually by a diver-member of special forces. It later explodes, and can significantly damage a vessel.

The discovery came amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Already, America has conducted B-52 bomber flyovers and sent a nuclear submarine into the Arabian Gulf over what Trump officials describe as the possibility of an Iranian attack on the one-year anniversary of the US drone strike in Baghdad that killed Gen.

Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general, along with a top Iraqi militia leader.

The top commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said his country was fully prepared to respond to any US military pressure. Gen. Hossein Salami addressed a gathering commemorating Soleimani’s death anniversary.

“Today, we have no problem, concern or apprehension toward encountering any powers. We will give our final words to our enemies on the battlefield,” Salami said, without mentioning the US directly.

The US and its Gulf allies have been warned to prepare for Iran-led terror attacks after Tehran ramped up threats of revenge.

Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri, a political analyst and international relations scholar, said that an Iranian terror strike against the US or one of its allies in the Gulf or in Yemen is “highly possible.”

However, he said that any attack would be limited due to US readiness to counter the Tehran regime.

Al-Shehri told Arab News that the US, more than any other global power, needed to step up its deterrent action to halt Iran’s aggressive behavior.

The US has been suffering from Iranian terrorist actions since 1977, when its embassy in Tehran was taken over by an Iranian militia group, he said.

“The US silence for over 40 years has allowed Iran to grow, develop militias and terrorist cells, and even improve its relations with several countries, which are now supporting Tehran in carrying out terrorism and challenging the US.”
Harvard scholar and Iranian affairs expert Majid Rafizadeh said: “This is political posturing and the Iranian leaders’ statements are words rather than actions. Iran is attempting to save face for one of the worst humiliations it has suffered since its establishment in 1979.”

Meanwhile, Iran has told the UN nuclear watchdog it intends to enrich uranium to up to 20 percent purity, a level it achieved before its 2015 deal with major powers and higher than the 4.5 percent it has recently been enriching up to.