The Guardian:

Mohammed bin Salman has spoken publicly for the first time since a second attack on Saudi oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, blaming arch-rival Iran and vowing that Saudi Arabia “won’t hesitate to deal with any threat” to the kingdom’s interests.

According to an interview for pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, published on Sunday, the crown prince said: “We do not want a war in the region ... But we won’t hesitate to deal with any threat to our people, our sovereignty, our territorial integrity and our vital interests.

“The Iranian regime did not respect the presence of the Japanese prime minister as a guest in Tehran and responded to his [diplomatic] efforts by attacking two tankers, one of which was Japanese.”

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Khalid al-Falih, called for a “swift and decisive” response to threats against energy supplies after Thursday’s “terrorist acts”.
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The attack on two tankers – the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous, which was carrying highly flammable methanol when it was rocked by explosions, and the Norwegian-operated Front Altair – came around the time the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was meeting Iranian leaders in Tehran. It was the second attack in a month in the strategic shipping lane.

Divisions over responsibility for last week’s attack have deepened amid fears of a major regional confrontation over the strategic shipping channel, despite hints by Donald Trump about possible negotiations with Iran.

The UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said on Sunday Britain was “almost certain” Iran was behind the oil tanker attacks, adding that London did not believe anyone else could have done it.

Speaking on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said it was “extraordinary, when there is clear evidence of tankers being blown up in the country, we have Jeremy Corbyn saying this is America’s fault”.

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