The New York Times reports:

One of the tankers that were attacked in the Gulf of Oman was struck by a flying object, the ship’s Japanese operator said on Friday, expressing doubt that a mine had been attached to its hull.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that American intelligence agencies had concluded that Tehran was behind the disabling of two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, a vital conduit for much of the world’s oil. Iranian officials denied any involvement in the events, which have escalated tensions in the region.

In an interview broadcast on Friday by “Fox & Friends,” President Trump directly accused Tehran, saying, “Iran did do it.”

“You saw the boat,” he said. “It has Iran written all over it.” Mr. Trump added: “They didn’t want the evidence left behind. They don’t know that we have things that we can detect in the dark that work very well. We have that. It was them that did it.”

American officials released video on Thursday that they said showed an Iranian boat crew, hours after the attack, removing a limpet mine attached to the hull of the damaged Kokuka Courageous, a tanker operated by the Japanese company Kokuka Sangyo.

But Yutaka Katada, the company’s president, citing accounts from the ship’s crew, said Friday: “I do not think there was a time bomb or an object attached to the side of the ship.” [Continue reading…]