{"id":644074,"date":"2019-06-23T08:27:23","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T08:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"
\"Jeremy<\/p>\n
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\"Jeremy<\/div>\n

Jeremy Corbyn has called for the government to provide \u201ccredible evidence\u201d that Iran was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers.<\/p>\n

The Labour leader said Britain ran the risk of increasing the threat of war in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cBritain should act to ease tensions in the Gulf, not fuel a military escalation that began with US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement,\u201d he wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout credible evidence about the tanker attacks, the government\u2019s rhetoric will only increase the threat of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

His comments come after the Foreign Office said it was \u201calmost certain\u201d that \u201ca branch of the Iranian military\u2026attacked two tankers on 13 June\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo other state or non-state actor could plausibly have been responsible,\u201d the FCO said, citing a \u201crecent precedent for attacks by Iran against oil tankers\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US released footage on Friday which it said showed an unexploded limpet mine being removed from the Kokuka Courageous, one of the tankers by Iranian special forces.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump told Fox News that Iran \u201cdid do it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess one of the mines didn\u2019t explode and it\u2019s probably got essentially Iran written all over it,\u201d the US president said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you saw the boat at night trying to take the mine off and successfully took the mine off the boat, and that was exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hit back, accused Washington of \u201ccarrying out an aggressive policy and posing a serious threat to regional stability\u201d.<\/p>\n

And Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has said the US \u201cimmediately jumped to make allegations against Iran without a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tensions between Iran and the US are high, after Mr Trump pulled out of a nuclear deal negotiated between Tehran and Western nations.<\/p>\n

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the UK stood behind the US assessment, saying the attacks built on \u201ca pattern of destabilising Iranian behaviour and pose a serious danger to the region\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Hunt said Britain\u2019s assessment \u201cleads us to conclude that responsibility for the attacks almost certainly lies with Iran\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese latest attacks build on a pattern of destabilising Iranian behaviour and pose a serious danger to the region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on Iran urgently to cease all forms of destabilising activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK remains in close coordination with international partners to find diplomatic solutions to de-escalate tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

US Central Command (Centcom) said US naval forces in the region received two separate distress calls on Thursday morning local time in the Gulf of Oman, 25 miles from the Iranian coast in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

The first, at 6.12am, came from the Front Altair, which was loaded with flammable naphtha from the UAE.<\/p>\n

Then at 7am, came the second distress call, from the Kokuka Courageous. The tanker was carrying methanol from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.<\/p>\n

The suspected attacks come after four commercial ships were \u201csubjected to sabotage operations\u201d in the Arabian Gulf last month.<\/p>\n

The Foreign Office said an investigation led by the UAE concluded that they were conducted by \u201ca sophisticated state actor\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that Iran bears responsibility for that attack,\u201d the FCO said.<\/p>\n

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