DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran on Saturday summoned the British ambassador to Tehran after London blamed it for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, the semi-official Students News Agency ISNA reported.
“During the meeting with Iran’s foreign ministry official, Iran strongly condemned the unfounded allegations and criticized Britain’s unacceptable stance regarding the attacks in the Gulf of Oman,” it said.
The ambassador was asked for an explanation and correction after Britain was the only nation to echo U.S. accusations, ISNA reported.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt issued a statement on Friday blaming Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for the attacks, saying no other state or non-state actor could have been responsible.
Iran has denied any involvement.
The attacks have raised fears of a confrontation in the vital oil shipping route of the Strait of Hormuz at a time of increased tension between Iran and the United States.
Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Andrew Cawthorne
FILE PHOTO: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech inside Parliament in Khartoum, Sudan April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan’s chief prosecutor said on Saturday that ousted President Omar al-Bashir would be sent for trial soon on corruption charges related to his three decades in power.
Alwaleed Sayed Ahmed Mahmoud told a news conference the trial referral would be made after a one-week period for objections expires, adding that criminal cases have been opened against 41 other former officials accused of graft.
The prosecutor’s office said on Thursday that Bashir, who was ousted by the military in April following months of protests against his 30-year autocratic rule, had been charged with corruption after an investigation was completed.
The charges are related to laws on “suspected illicit wealth and emergency orders,” the office said, without giving more details.
Bashir had already been charged in May with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters. Prosecutors also ordered his interrogation on suspicion of money laundering and terrorism financing.
Mahmoud also said he had attended a meeting with military heads to discuss judicial supervision of a plan to clear what he called “criminals” from an area adjacent to a protest camp in the center of the capital.
But the idea of dispersing the protesters was not discussed, he added.
The country’s military rulers said on Thursday they had thwarted several coup attempts and that some officers had been arrested over the deadly dispersal of protesters at a sit-in in Khartoum earlier this month.
Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Helen Popper
FILE PHOTO: Security personnel stand guard in front of St Anthony's Shrine, days after a string of suicide bomb attacks across the island on Easter Sunday, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 29, 2019. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Five Sri Lankans suspected of having links to Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people were brought home in police custody on Friday after being deported from Saudi Arabia, police said.
Police declined to provide details of the arrests beyond saying the five were picked up in a Middle Eastern country and were sent back, in the custody of Sri Lankan police, from the Saudi city of Jeddah.
“These are the five remaining leaders of the April 21 terrorist group,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera told reporters.
The coordinated Islamist militant suicide bomb attacks on hotels and churches sent shockwaves through the Indian Ocean island state that had enjoyed relative peace since a civil war ended a decade ago.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks that authorities said were carried out by two little-known domestic groups - the National Thawheedh Jamaath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim.
Police declined to give information about the nature of the five suspects’ roles in the attacks but said one of them, identified as Mohamed Milhan, was a senior member of the NTJ.
“He could have been the next leader,” Gunasekera said.
Authorities have arrested more than 2,000 people in connection with the attacks. While courts have released most of them on bail, 634 remain in detention.
Authorities say the threat of more attacks has been contained and the security services have dismantled most of the network linked to the bombings.
Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Alexandra Ulmer, Robert Birsel
A picture of the Kokuka Courageous, one of two that were hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman, is displayed during a news conference by the ship owner Kokuka Sangyo Ltd. at the company office in Tokyo, Japan June 13, 2019, in in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
TOKYO (Reuters) - 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.
Reporting by Junko Fujita; writing by Malcolm Foster; editing by Richard Pullin
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s industry minister, Hiroshige Seko, said on Friday an attack on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman this week will be discussed at a meeting of G20 energy and environment ministers this weekend.
FILE PHOTO - Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko leaves the European Commission headquarters after a meeting on steel overcapacity, in Brussels, Belgium March 10, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Walschaerts
The ministerial meeting of the Group of 20 major economies will be held in Karuizawa, northwest of Tokyo, in the run up to the G20 summit to be held in Osaka, western Japan, on June 28-29.
Two tankers, one operated by a Japanese shipping company, were attacked in the Gulf on Thursday. The United States blamed Iran for the attacks, raising concerns about a new U.S.-Iranian confrontation and driving up oil prices. Tehran denied involvement.
“Maintaining energy security is something we can share with other ministers and is an important policy issue to be discussed at the G20 energy ministerial meeting,” Seko said at a regular press conference.
“The Middle East is a key area for global energy security. We want to talk with other ministers about our concerns about global security and threats,” he said.
Seko declined to comment when asked about whether Japan would send its armed forces to the Gulf to protect tankers.
He also declined to comment on remarks by U.S. officials blaming Iran for the attacks, saying Japan was still investigating details of the incident.
The attacks happened while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Tehran trying to help ease rising tensions between the United States and Iran.
Seko said Abe told Iranian leaders that Japan wanted to maintain economic cooperation with Iran, including buying crude oil when international circumstances allowed. Japan stopped purchases earlier this year after the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
Seko said the attack would not affect Japan’s energy supplies.
The other ship that was attacked was an oil tanker chartered by Taiwan’s state oil refiner, CPC Corp, to carry fuel from the Middle East.
GRAPHIC: Attacks in Gulf of Oman IMG - tmsnrt.rs/2X8ePpU
Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; writing by Aaron Sheldrick; editing by Richard Pullin
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is discussing with its allies a variety of options on how to protect international shipping in the Gulf of Oman in the wake of tanker attacks that Washington has blamed on Iran, senior Trump administration officials said on Thursday.
Two officials, speaking to a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity, said the United States wants to ensure the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and make sure international commerce is not disrupted.
Two oil tankers were attacked on Thursday and left adrift in the Gulf of Oman.
“We don’t think this is over,” one official said of the possibility of more such attacks.
The official said options are being reviewed.
“We’re discussing and will be discussing with our partners and allies suggestions on how we collectively can take steps to ensure, one, that we maintain freedom of navigation and international commerce is not disrupted and, second, that we protect our forces’ interests and our commercial assets and those of our partners and allies,” the official said.
The official said the attacks appeared “designed to have a political outcome” and suggested it could have been an attempt to disrupt a visit to Tehran by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“We are going to obviously evaluate our presence in the region and the growing threat and make subsequent decisions,” the official said. “We have to look at the threat, as we always do, to our personnel and our forces but the threat to a strategic chokepoint. There’s a significant amount of trade that transits the Strait of Hormuz every day.”
Reporting by Steve Holland and Phil Stewart; Editing by Sandra Maler and David Gregorio
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan’s military rulers said on Thursday that some officers had been arrested for their involvement in the deadly dispersal of a protest sit-in in Khartoum.
An investigation into the storming of the sit-in had concluded and the results would be announced on Saturday, the military council said.
Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz, writing by Lena Masri; Editing by Toby Chopra
