Blinken vows ‘collective response’ for ship attack blamed on Iran
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States is confident that Iran carried out the attack on the Israeli-linked oil tanker.
The United States is “confident” that Iran is responsible for an attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two crew members off the coast of Oman last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday.
“I want to condemn again the attack on Friday against the commercial ship. … We’ve conducted a thorough review and we’re confident that Iran carried out this attack,” said Blinken during a State Department briefing.
The United States and the United Kingdom have concluded that one or more Iranian drones were used to target the MV Mercer Street, a Japanese oil tanker managed by a UK-based company owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer. Officials said a British sailor and the ship's Romanian captain died in the attack near the Omani island of Masirah as the ship was traveling from Tanzania to the United Arab Emirates.
“Iran continues to act with tremendous irresponsibility,” Blinken said. “We are in very close contact, in coordination, with the United Kingdom, Israel, Romania and other countries. ... There will be a collective response."
