Before the long plume of black smoke from the stricken oil tanker Front Altair had cleared on Thursday, one thing was clear: the risks of a war in the region are real and rising fast. US officials briefed that it was “highly likely” Iran had attacked the Norwegian vessel and another tanker in the Gulf of Oman, close to the strait of Hormuz – a chokepoint for the global oil and gas trade. They had already blamed Tehran for mine attacks on other oil ships last month.
Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, was quick to tweet that “suspicious doesn’t begin to describe what likely transpired this morning”, pointing out that vessels with cargo for Japan were attacked as the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, met the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a trip intended to help ease US-Iran tensions.
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