TOKYO (Reuters) - The president of the Japanese shipping company Kokuka Sangyo Ltd said one of its tankers had been attacked near the Strait of Hormuz, its president told reporters at a news conference.

The public broadcaster NHK identified the ship as the Kokuka Courageous, one of two that were hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, according to shipping firms and industry sources.

Kokuka Sangyo President Yutaka Katada told reporters that the ship had been hit twice over a three-hour period before all the crew evacuated. The company first received reports of the attack around 0400 GMT, he told reporters.

All members of the crew were rescued, he told reporters.

The Kokuka Courageous was carrying 25,000 tonnes of methanol, according to NHK.

Kokuka Sangyo declined to comment further when contacted by Reuters by phone.

Earlier Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko told reporters that the government was investigating reports that a ship carrying “Japan-related” cargo had been attacked.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in Tehran trying to help ease rising tensions between the United States and Iran.

An oil tanker chartered by Taiwan’s state oil refiner CPC Corp to carry fuel from the Middle East was suspected to have been attacked earlier on Thursday, a senior company official said.

The attacks on the two tankers came a month after a similar incident in which four tankers in the region were attacked.

Benchmark oil prices surged by 4% after the attacks, which may stoke tensions in the region that have already been heightened by a dispute between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran’s nuclear program.

The Gulf of Oman lies at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, a major strategic waterway through which a fifth of global oil consumption passes from Middle East producers.

There was no immediate confirmation from authorities in Oman or the United Arab Emirates, in whose territorial waters four tankers were hit last month. An investigation said limpet mines were used. U.S. and Saudi officials blamed Iran for the May attack, a charge Tehran has denied.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have said the attacks on oil assets in the Gulf pose a risk to global oil supplies and regional security. </s> Two “flying objects” damaged a Japanese tanker in a suspected attack on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, but there was no damage to the cargo of methanol, the president of the shipping company said on Friday.

The Kokuka Courageous was sailing toward the port of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates after the crew, which had evacuated after the incident, returned, President Yutaka Katada of Kokuka Sangyo told a press conference. It was being escorted by the U.S. Navy, he said.

“The crew told us something came flying at the ship, and they found a hole,” Katada said. “Then some crew witnessed the second shot.”

Katada said there was no possibility that the ship, carrying 25,000 tons of methanol, was hit by a torpedo.

The crew saw an Iranian military ship in the vicinity on Thursday night Japan time, Katada said.

The United States blamed Iran for attacking the Kokuka Courageous and another tanker, the Norwegian-owned Front Altair, on Thursday, but Tehran denied the allegations.

Japanese Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said on Friday that the incidents will be discussed at a meeting of G20 energy and environment ministers this weekend.

Seko declined to comment on American officials blaming Iran, saying Japan is still investigating the incident, which occurred while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Tehran trying to help ease rising tensions between the United States and Iran. </s> The US military has released a video it said showed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded limpet mine from one of the oil tankers targeted near the Strait of Hormuz.

The US Navy rushed to assist the stricken vessels in the Gulf of Oman off the coast of Iran, including one that was set ablaze on Thursday by an explosion.

The ships’ operators offered no immediate explanation on who or what caused the damage against the Norwegian-owned MT Front Altair and the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous.

Each was loaded with petroleum products, and the Front Altair burned for hours, sending up a column of thick black smoke.

Iran has denied being involved in the attack, calling it an “unfounded claim” in the US’s “Iranophobic campaign”.

However, Iran previously used mines against oil tankers in 1987 and 1988 in the Tanker War, when the US Navy escorted ships through the region.

The black-and-white footage, as well as still photographs released by the US military’s Central Command, appeared to show the limpet mine on the Kokuka Courageous.

A Revolutionary Guard patrol boat pulled alongside the ship and removed the mine, Central Command spokesman Captain Bill Urban said.

“The US and the international community stand ready to defend our interests, including the freedom of navigation,” Capt Urban said.

“The United States has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East. However, we will defend our interests.”

Iran earlier denied involvement in a statement from its mission to the United Nations.

“The US economic war and terrorism against the Iranian people as well as its massive military presence in the region have been and continue to be the main sources of insecurity and instability in the wider Persian Gulf region and the most significant threat to its peace and security,” the statement said.

The suspected attacks occurred at dawn on Thursday about 25 miles off the southern coast of Iran.

The Front Altair, loaded with the flammable hydrocarbon mixture naphtha from the United Arab Emirates, radioed for help as it caught fire.

A short time later, the Kokuka Courageous, loaded with methanol from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, also called for help.

The US Navy sent a destroyer, the USS Bainbridge, to assist, said Commander Joshua Frey, a 5th Fleet spokesman. He described the ships as being hit in a “reported attack”.

Thursday’s attack resembled another in May that targeted four oil tankers off the nearby Emirati port of Fujairah.

US officials similarly accused Iran of targeting the ships with limpet mines, which are magnetic and attach to the hulls of a ship. The mines disable but do not sink a vessel. </s> Audio has emerged of a distress call made at the scene of one of the Gulf of Oman explosions yesterday, as the owner of the other tanker said the crew saw a 'flying object' hurtling towards them.

In the short clip, the captain of a passing cargo ship voices fears of a torpedo attack as he helps to rescue the crew of the MT Front Altair after it was hit by a blast and caught fire.

The sailor, who identifies himself as the captain of the Hyundai Dubai, gives the exact location of the Altair and says that its 23 crew members have 'safely disembarked', in the recording published by TradeWinds.

Washington alleges that Iran was behind the two blasts and published footage yesterday claiming to show an Iranian patrol boat retrieving an unexploded mine from the Kokuka.

However, the accounts of torpedoes and flying objects which are emerging from the two shipping companies do not entirely back America's findings up.

Yutaka Katada, the head of the firm which owns the Kokuka Courageous, said that 'something came flying at the ship' - casting doubt on America's theory that it was attacked with a limpet mine.

He said the unknown object punched a hole in the Kokuka Courageous, starting a fire and forcing the crew to evacuate.

The shipping firm boss said the weapon had not been a torpedo and revealed that the U.S. Navy was now escorting the stricken vessel to the UAE.

He also said it was unlikely that the ship was targeted because of its Japanese ownership - a theory hinted at by Iran as the attacks came during talks with Japan's PM yesterday.

The ship's 21 crew have since returned to the vessel and its cargo of 25,000 tonnes of methanol, destined for Singapore, is said to be undamaged.

Mr Katada, the head of the Kokuka Sangyo company, said the tanker had suffered two apparent attacks.

After the first, crew members 'made evasive manoeuvres but three hours later it was hit again,' he said.

Describing the second blast today, he said: 'The crew members are saying that they were hit by a flying object. They saw it with their own eyes.

'We have received a report saying that something seems to have flew in, there was an explosion and it created a hole in the body of the ship.'

One crew member suffered minor injuries in the blasts, which have sent Middle East tensions spiralling once again.

'Crew members went back to the ship with support of the U.S. military and recovered the backup power source,' Mr Katada said.

'We'll review the overall damage but we don't think there's a possibility it will sink. There's no damage to the goods and fuel.'

The United States has blamed Iran for attacking the Kokuka Courageous and another tanker, the Norwegian-owned Front Altair, on Thursday, but Tehran has denied the allegations.

The ship's crew saw an Iranian military ship in the vicinity on Thursday night Japan time, Katada said.

Katada said he did not believe Kokuka Courageous was targeted because it was owned by a Japanese firm. The tanker is registered in Panama and was flying a Panamanian flag, he said.

'Unless very carefully examined, it would be hard to tell the tanker was operated or owned by Japanese,' he said.

The tanker was attacked near the Strait of Hormuz, a major strategic waterway through which about one-fifth of global oil consumption passes on its way from Middle Eastern producers including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait as well as Iran.

'This strait is very crucial. Without this route we can not transport gasoline and heavy oil to Japan,' Katada said.

'Unless another major incident occurs, as long as we get approval from our crew, we will continue operating our tankers via this route to Saudi Arabia.'

Japanese Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said on Friday that the incidents will be discussed at a meeting of G20 energy and environment ministers this weekend.

Seko declined to comment on American officials blaming Iran, saying Japan is still investigating the incident, which occurred while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Tehran trying to help ease rising tensions between the United States and Iran. </s> BREAKING: U.S. Central Command released a video it says shows Iran removing a mine from targeted oil tanker.

Capt. Bill Urban, the spokesman for U.S. Central Command, issued a timeline late Thursday that suggested U.S. military assets observed Iranian vessels returning to the Courageous to retrieve the unexploded mine.

“At 4:10 p.m. local time an IRGC Gashti Class patrol boat approached the M/T Kokuka Courageous and was observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine” from the Courageous,” Urban said.

The perilous contest between the United States and Iran for influence in the Middle East escalated dramatically on Thursday as two tankers were targeted in suspected attacks near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global oil shipments.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran for the “blatant assault” on the vessels and said the United States would defend itself and its allies against Iranian aggression in the region. But he provided no evidence that the explosions had been the work of Iranian forces.

The blasts appeared to be a coordinated attack, damaging the hull of a Japanese-owned tanker and striking a Norwegian-owned vessel, which caught fire and was left adrift in the Gulf of Oman.

The incidents were similar to suspected acts of sabotage carried out against tankers near the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah last month and looked to be the latest salvo in the mounting confrontation between the United States and Iran. As the Trump administration has tightened economic sanctions on Iran after withdrawing last year from the historic nuclear deal, Iran and its allies have responded with calibrated attacks in the Persian Gulf area, Iraq and Saudi Arabia aimed at underscoring the potential cost to U.S. interests, including the international oil trade, experts say.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described the incidents Thursday as “suspicious,” and Iran’s naval forces said they were investigating the “accident” in the Gulf of Oman. At the United Nations, the Iranian mission denied any involvement and called the U.S. claim “inflammatory” and “Iranophobic.”

The crews of both vessels were forced to abandon ship. A U.S. defense official said the USS Bainbridge, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer that was in the area, took on board 21 crew members from the Japanese vessel, the Kokuka Courageous.

The suspected attack on the Japanese ship appeared timed to undermine diplomatic efforts by Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who was wrapping up a high-stakes visit to Tehran. He met there with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and was seeking to help mediate potential talks between U.S. and Iranian officials. Abe had called his talks in Tehran “a major step forward toward securing peace and stability in this region,” the Kyodo news agency reported.

The second vessel, owned by Norway’s Frontline, was “suspected of being hit by a torpedo,” an official with Taiwan’s state oil refiner, CPC Corp., which chartered the vessel, told the Reuters news agency.

The tanker, called the Front Altair, was carrying naphtha, a flammable petrochemical product that was loaded at a port in the UAE and was destined for East Asia, news agencies reported. The ship’s 23 crew members — 11 Russians, 11 Filipinos and one Georgian — were rescued by a nearby vessel and transferred to an Iranian navy ship, then taken to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

Speaking to reporters, Pompeo said that the U.S. assessment of Iranian involvement is based on intelligence, the type of weapons used and the level of expertise needed, and that no Iranian-backed militia in the region has the resources or proficiency to pull off such a sophisticated operation.

He said the impetus behind the attacks was the administration’s “maximum pressure campaign” of sanctions that U.S. officials say are designed to get Iran to negotiate over its nuclear program and its support of militias in various neighboring countries.

“Our policy remains an economic and diplomatic effort to bring Iran back to the negotiating table at the right time and encourage a comprehensive deal that addresses the broad range of threats,” Pompeo said. “Iran should meet diplomacy with diplomacy, not with terror, bloodshed and extortion.”

In New York, the U.S. representative to the United Nations blamed Tehran for the attacks during a meeting of the Security Council, drawing a sharp response from the Iranian mission.

“Iran categorically rejects the U.S. unfounded claim,” the mission said in a statement.

“The U.S. economic war and terrorism against the Iranian people as well as its massive military presence in the region have been and continue to be the main sources of insecurity and instability in the wider Persian Gulf region and the most significant threat to its peace and security,” the statement continued.

“Neither fabrications and disinformation campaigns nor shamelessly blaming others can change the realities. The U.S. and its regional allies must stop warmongering and put an end to mischievous plots as well as false flag operations in the region.”

Shortly after Pompeo spoke in Washington, senior U.S. officials showed photographs to reporters of the damaged tanker Courageous with what the Navy identified as a suspected magnetic mine attached to its hull. The unexploded weapon was probably applied by hand from an Iranian fast boat, one official said, and is thought to be the same kind of weapon used to blow a hole elsewhere in the same tanker and to do more-

serious damage to the other ship, the Front Altair, two officials said.

The officials, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity because many elements of the investigation remain secret, said the type and timing of the attack bear Iranian hallmarks, but U.S. officials cannot yet say with certainty where the mines were manufactured or exactly how they were laid.

“There’s not too many ways in which this can be done,” one official said. “Very few that don’t involve an individual physically placing it on the ship.”

U.S. officials said several nations are consulting about how to respond. One option may be to provide military escorts for commercial tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz, one official said, although no decision has been made.

“As the threat evolves, it’s incumbent on us to reevaluate our presence,” said one senior U.S. official.

The U.S. military has dispatched a P-8 Poseidon, an anti-ship, anti-submarine and surveillance aircraft, to the area in response to the incident, a defense official said.

Senior U.S. officials have frequently been in touch about the incident since Thursday morning, the official added. U.S. Central Command is sending additional troops and weaponry to the Middle East.

[The oil route that could become central to mounting tensions between Iran and the U.S.]

The Gulf of Oman links the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf. The gulf has been a flash point for tensions between Iran and the United States and its Arab gulf allies.

“The tension in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf is now as high as it gets without being an actual armed conflict,” said Jakob P. Larsen, head of maritime security at the Baltic and International Maritime Council, the world’s largest international shipping association. “The increase in attacks and the escalated threat to seafarers is an urgent concern to the industry.”

U.S. officials say the administration’s pressure campaign is aimed at isolating Tehran, curbing its support for regional proxies, restricting its ballistic missile program, and ultimately bringing Tehran back to the negotiating table. But some experts say the recent tensions have underscored the limits of that policy.

In a climate of hostility, the tanker incidents could bring the parties closer to the brink of violent confrontation.

“This is a way station to a wider conflict breaking out between Iran and the United States,” said Ali Vaez, senior Iran analyst and Iran project director for the International Crisis Group. “If Iran was behind it, it is very clear the maximum pressure policy of the Trump administration is rendering Iran more aggressive, not less.”

The attacks could also reflect a widening split between pro-

diplomacy officials in Iran and hard-liners opposed to further negotiations, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. The paramilitary organization, which boasts land, air and sea forces, answers only to Khamenei and is responsible for Iran’s external military operations.

Iran’s security services, including the IRGC, “have a decades-long history of conducting attacks and other operations aimed precisely at undermining the diplomatic objectives of a country’s elected representatives,” the political risk firm Eurasia Group said in a briefing note Thursday.

“The attacks could have been designed to put an exclamation point on Iran’s warnings to Abe about the risks of instability in the region,” the note said. About 80 percent of Japan’s oil imports come from the Middle East and pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

The attacks occurred 24 nautical miles from the nearest IRGC naval base, one U.S. official said. IRGC ships are frequently present in that area but had not until recently begun to harass or impede shipping, the official said.

“It’s clear that there is a pattern of Iranian naval activity in and around commercial shipping lanes that is inconsistent with their prior behavior,” the official said.

The attacks are part of Iran’s response to tightening U.S. sanctions, one official said. He described the Iranian view this way: “If we can’t ship oil, no one can.”

Gearan and Morello reported from Washington. Simon Denyer and Akiko Kashiwagi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news </s> DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. military on Friday released a video it said shows Iran's Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded limpet mine from one of the oil tankers targeted near the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting the Islamic Republic sought to remove evidence of its involvement from the scene. Iran denies being involved, accusing the U.S. instead of waging an "Iranophobic campaign" against it.

The U.S. Navy rushed to assist the stricken vessels in the Gulf of Oman, off the coast of Iran, including one that was set ablaze Thursday by an explosion.

The ships' operators offered no immediate explanation on who or what caused the damage against the Norwegian-owned MT Front Altair and the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous. Each was loaded with petroleum products, and the Front Altair burned for hours, sending up a column of thick, black smoke.

While Iran has denied being involved in the attack, Tehran previously used mines against oil tankers in 1987 and 1988 in the "Tanker War," when the U.S. Navy escorted ships through the region.

The black-and-white footage, as well as still photographs released by the U.S. military's Central Command on Friday, appeared to show the limpet mine on the Kokuka Courageous.

A Revolutionary Guard patrol boat pulled alongside the ship and removed the mine, Central Command spokesman Capt. Bill Urban said.

"The U.S. and the international community stand ready to defend our interests, including the freedom of navigation," Urban said. "The United States has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East. However, we will defend our interests."

This June 13, 2019, image released by the U.S. military's Central Command, shows damage and a suspected mine on the Kokuka Courageous in the Gulf of Oman near the coast of Iran. (U.S. Central Command via AP)

Iran earlier denied involvement via a statement from its mission to the United Nations.

"The U.S. economic war and terrorism against the Iranian people as well as its massive military presence in the region have been and continue to be the main sources of insecurity and instability in the wider Persian Gulf region and the most significant threat to its peace and security," the statement said.

Meanwhile in Tokyo, the owner of the Kokuka Courageous said its sailors saw "flying objects" before the attack, suggesting it wasn't damaged by mines. Company president Yutaka Katada offered no evidence for his claim, which contradicts the U.S. military account.

Katada also said crew members saw an Iranian naval ship nearby, but did not specify whether this was before or after the attacks.

The suspected attacks occurred at dawn Thursday about 40 kilometers (25 miles) off the southern coast of Iran. The Front Altair, loaded with the flammable hydrocarbon mixture naphtha from the United Arab Emirates, radioed for help as it caught fire. A short time later, the Kokuka Courageous, loaded with methanol from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, also called for help.

The U.S. Navy sent a destroyer, the USS Bainbridge, to assist, said Cmdr. Joshua Frey, a 5th Fleet spokesman. He described the ships as being hit in a "reported attack," without elaborating.

Thursday's attack resembled that of an attack in May targeting four oil tankers off the nearby Emirati port of Fujairah. U.S. officials similarly accused Iran of targeting the ships with limpet mines, which are magnetic and attach to the hulls of a ship. The mines disable, but don't sink, a vessel.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told journalists on Thursday that the U.S. assessment of Iran's involvement was based in part on intelligence, as well as the expertise needed for the operation. It was also based on recent incidents in the region, which the U.S. also blamed on Iran, including the use of limpet mines in the Fujairah attack, he said. He also tied Iran to a drone attack by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on a crucial Saudi oil pipeline around the same time.

"Taken as a whole, these unprovoked attacks present a clear threat to international peace and security, a blatant assault on the freedom of navigation and an unacceptable campaign of escalating tension by Iran," Pompeo said. He didn't elaborate and took no questions.

Iran denied being involved in the attacks last month and its foreign minister questioned the timing of Thursday's incidents, given that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was meeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran.

Pompeo noted that Abe had asked Iran to enter into talks with Washington but Tehran "rejected" the overture.

"The supreme leader's government then insulted Japan by attacking a Japanese-owned oil tanker just outside Iranian waters, threatening the lives of the entire crew, creating a maritime emergency," Pompeo added.

At the United Nations, the Security Council held closed consultations on the tanker incidents late Thursday at the request of the United States but took no action.

Tensions have escalated in the Mideast as Iran appears poised to break the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, an accord that President Donald Trump repudiated last year. In the deal, Tehran agreed to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of crippling sanctions. Now, Iran is threatening to resume enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels if European nations don't offer it new terms to the deal by July 7.

Already, Iran says it quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium. Meanwhile, U.S. sanctions have cut off opportunities for Iran to trade its excess uranium and heavy water abroad, putting Tehran on course to violate terms of the nuclear deal regardless.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said early Friday its military intercepted five drones launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeting the kingdom, including the Abha regional airport. The kingdom said a similar attack Wednesday on the Abha airport wounded 26 people.

Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Aya Batrawy in Dubai, David Rising in Berlin, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Lolita C. Baldor, Zeke Miller and Susannah George in Washington and Amir Vahdat and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. </s> TOKYO (Reuters) - Two “flying objects” damaged a Japanese tanker owned by Kokuka Sangyo Co in an attack on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, but there was no damage to the cargo of methanol, the company president said on Friday.

The Kokuka Courageous is now sailing toward the port of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates, with the crew having returned to the ship after evacuating because of the incident, Kokuka President Yutaka Katada told a press conference. It was being escorted by the U.S. Navy, he said.

“The crew told us something came flying at the ship, and they found a hole,” Katada said. “Then some crew witnessed the second shot.”

Katada said there was no possibility that the ship, carrying 25,000 tons of methanol, was hit by a torpedo.

The United States has blamed Iran for attacking the Kokuka Courageous and another tanker, the Norwegian-owned Front Altair, on Thursday, but Tehran has denied the allegations.

The ship’s crew saw an Iranian military ship in the vicinity on Thursday night Japan time, Katada said.

Katada said he did not believe Kokuka Courageous was targeted because it was owned by a Japanese firm. The tanker is registered in Panama and was flying a Panamanian flag, he said.

“Unless very carefully examined, it would be hard to tell the tanker was operated or owned by Japanese,” he said.

The tanker was attacked near the Strait of Hormuz, a major strategic waterway through which about one-fifth of global oil consumption passes on its way from Middle Eastern producers including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait as well as Iran.

“This strait is very crucial. Without this route we can not transport gasoline and heavy oil to Japan,” Katada said.

“Unless another major incident occurs, as long as we get approval from our crew, we will continue operating our tankers via this route to Saudi Arabia.”

Japanese Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said on Friday that the incidents will be discussed at a meeting of G20 energy and environment ministers this weekend.

Seko declined to comment on American officials blaming Iran, saying Japan is still investigating the incident, which occurred while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Tehran trying to help ease rising tensions between the United States and Iran. </s> Washington has blamed Iran for a twin attack on tankers in sensitive Gulf waters, releasing grainy footage it said implicates Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces in one of the operations.

The video, published Thursday on the US Central Command's website, purports to show the crew of an Iranian patrol boat removing an object from the hull of a vessel whose markings appear to match archive footage and pictures of the Japanese-owned tanker Kokuka Courageous.

The tanker had been transporting methanol from the United Arab Emirates towards the Indian Ocean when it was attacked on Thursday morning, along with the Front Altair, owned by the Oslo-listed company Frontline, after passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

In the CENTCOM footage, a speedboat carrying between eight and 10 people, apparently wearing life jackets, lies in calm waters alongside a tanker that appears to be the Kokuka Courageous.

In the very first frames of the video, a person standing on the bow of the speedboat seems to remove a light-coloured object, slightly bigger than a large dinner plate, from the tanker's hull.

"An IRGC Gashti Class patrol boat approached the M/T Kokuka Courageous and was observed and recorded removing (an) unexploded limpet mine," CENTCOM said in its description of the footage.

Another shot, slightly zoomed out, shows the speedboat, between 10-15 metres (30-50 feet) long, backing away from the larger vessel.

Again, the markings, railings and pipes on the tanker appear to match archive AFP footage of the Kokuka Courageous.

As the shot pans away, tracking the reversing patrol boat, a dark patch can be seen further back on the tanker's hull, just above the waterline.

This seems to match damage shown in a handout powerpoint slide separately released by the US military.

Another close-up of the smaller boat shows what appears to be a machine gun, mounted in front of a small wheelhouse.

- 'Iran did do it' -

CENTCOM did not say how the footage was taken, but it was apparently shot from the air.

The operators of the Kokuka Courageous, citing eyewitness reports from the ship's crew, have said it was hit by a "flying object" before suffering a second blast on board.

The US navy said 21 crew members had abandoned ship after "discovering a probable unexploded limpet mine on their hull following an initial explosion".

It said they were picked up by a Dutch tugboat then transferred to the USS Bainbridge.

Analyst Ali Ansari, an Iran expert at Scotland's University of St Andrews and a senior associate at the Royal United Services Institute, warned against jumping to conclusions over the video.

"The situation is particularly febrile and the consequences will be significant so we should not rush to judgement," he said.

Jean-Pierre Maulnay, deputy head of the Paris-based Iris think tank, called the video "useless".

He said the figures on the patrol boat appeared to remove something from the tanker's hull, but "we don't know what it is and it's impossible to confirm".

Iran has dismissed as "baseless" US accusations it executed the twin attacks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that the US had "immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran without a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence".

But US President Trump was adamant that "Iran did do it".

"You saw the boat at night, successfully trying to take the mine off -- and that was exposed," he told Fox News television on Friday, after the video was released.

CENTCOM said the video had been taken at 4.10 pm local time. </s> WASHINGTON: The US military released a video late on Thursday that it said showed Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) removing an unexploded mine from the side of a Japanese-owned oil tanker, as Washington blamed Iran for attacks rattling global oil markets.

The US military's Central Command also released photographs showing the apparent mine, which attaches to the side of a ship magnetically, before it was removed later in the day.

Such imagery is often difficult to declassify and its release appeared to show US efforts to convince the international community of Iran's culpability in Thursday's attacks on the Kokuka Courageous and the Norwegian-owned Front Altair. Tehran has bluntly denied the allegation.

Both vessels suffered explosions, forcing crews to abandon ship and leave them adrift in waters between Gulf Arab states and Iran.

Navy Captain Bill Urban, a Central Command spokesman, said the IRGC vessel was observed at 4:10 p.m. local time approaching the Japanese-owned tanker.

"(It) was observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine from the Kokuka Courageous (video attached)," Urban said in a statement.

Reuters had previously reported the existence of the video.

Crude oil prices spiked more than 4 per cent after the attacks near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping artery for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf energy producers. Prices later settled about 2 per cent higher.

Brent crude was down by 0.4 per cent at US$61.06 a barrel in early Asia trading.

Central Command also offered a detailed chronology of events, starting with U.S. Navy forces receiving distress calls from the Altair at 6.12am and from the Kokuka Courageous at 7am.

But much of the chronology centred on the movement of nearby Iranian ships, and what Central Command said was an Iranian order to take control of Altair sailors who had been rescued.

About an hour after the Kokuka Courageous' distress call, a U.S. aircraft observed an IRGC Hendijan-class patrol boat and multiple IRGC fast attack craft and fast inshore attack craft near the Altair, Urban said.

He said that at 9.26am Iranian forces told a ship that had rescued sailors from the Altair "to turn the crew over to the Iranian (fast inshore attack craft)."

"The motor vessel Hyundai Dubai complied with the request and transferred the crew of the Altair to the Iranian (vessels)," Urban said.

In a statement on Thursday evening, the Iranian mission to the United Nations said Tehran "categorically rejects the U.S. unfounded claim with regard to 13 June oil tanker incidents and condemns it in the strongest possible terms."

It accused the United States and its regional allies, which include Iranian rival Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, of "warmongering."

Urban said the United States would defend its interests and warned that Thursday's attacks were a threat to international freedom of navigation and freedom of commerce.

"The United States has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East," Urban added. "However, we will defend our interests."
The president of the Japanese shipping company offers a different account of the attack than that provided by the United States. Yutaka Katada says the Filipino crew of the Kokuka Courageous oil tanker said their vessel was apparently first hit by an artillery shell rather than a mine. The United States said the tanker was attacked by limpet mines and released a video it says shows Iranian special forces removing an unexploded mine from the oil tanker's side.