Miscellaneous
(6/19/19) On June 13, two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman were damaged after an explosion hit both ships above the waterline. The US government was quick to blame Iran for the attack on the two vessels—The Kokuka Courageous, a tanker owned by Japan and en route to Singapore and The Front Altair, a Norwegian-owned tanker on its way to Taiwan. “This assessment is based on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at the State Department, as reported by Robin Wright of the New Yorker. And while both President Trump and Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani say they do not want war, the inflammatory statements coming from their administrations appear to be at odds with that goal. In this episode of “TrumpWatch with Jesse Lent” on WBAI, Julian Borger, world affairs editor for the Guardian, breaks down what is happening to relations between the two countries and examines how the Trump administration’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal could affect the outcome.