Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said U.S. intelligence showed Iran was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman yesterday, a claim Iran rebuffed as “warmongering.” The Pentagon released a video it said shows an Iranian patrol boat removing an unexploded mine from one of the tankers shortly after the attack (New York Times)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned yesterday that the “world cannot afford” a major conflict in the Gulf (Agence France-Presse)
Tankers Attacked in Gulf of Oman
Two oil tankers came under suspected attack in the Gulf of Oman today. Iran and the U.S. Navy responded to distress calls, and the vessels’ crews were safely evacuated (Guardian)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in Tehran this week, said his trip was aimed at preventing an accidental conflict over the recent escalation (Financial Times)
Iran Suggests Japan as Possible Mediator With United States
Ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s arrival in Tehran today, a senior Iranian official said Iran will ask Japan to act as a mediator with the United States over oil sanctions on Iran. In Tokyo last month, U.S. President Donald J. Trump suggested he would be open to such help (Reuters)
UN Watchdog: Iran Accelerating Uranium Enrichment
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency told a news conference yesterday that Iran has increased its production of enriched uranium but that it is unclear when the country will reach the stockpile limit set out in the 2015 nuclear agreement (Reuters)
Germany, Japan Seek Diplomacy With Iran
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, in Tehran today, said all the requirements for a European payment system to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran are in place and that it will soon be ready for use (Al Jazeera)
Maas met with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and President Hassan Rouhani in a bid to save the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, from which the United States withdrew just over a year ago (Deutsche Welle)
On Wednesday, Shinzo Abe will make the first visit to Iran by a sitting Japanese prime minister in more than four decades (Japan Times)
Iran Rejects U.S. Call for Negotiations
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Twitter yesterday, rejected a U.S. call for direct negotiations, writing that “economic war” and talks “don’t go together” (Middle East Eye)
Iranian Laureate Beaten
Iranian security forces beat Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi on the head and neck after detaining her last Friday, according to a post attributed to her family on Mohammadi’s social media account (X)
Mohammadi told her family she had been accused of cooperating with Israel, the post said; the charge can carry the death penalty (Reuters)
Iranian authorities did not respond to a New York Times request for comment; they told state media that Mohammadi’s rights were being respected (NYT)