Iraq says it has dismantled mine on tanker in Persian Gulf

Iraq’s army on Saturday mentioned explosives consultants with its naval forces efficiently dismantled a mine that was found caught to an oil tanker within the Persian Gulf two days earlier.The assertion mentioned Iraqi authorities have opened an investigation into the incident. No group has claimed duty for putting the mine.The announcement got here a day after Iraq confirmed experiences by personal safety corporations {that a} mine had been found hooked up to the aspect of a tanker rented from Iraq’s Oil Marketing Company, referred to as SOMO, because it was refueling one other vessel. It mentioned that Iraqi groups had been working to dismantle the mine.Iraq has not supplied additional particulars, however the two personal safety corporations mentioned the invention was seemingly a limpet mine on the MT Pola, a Liberian-flagged tanker.A limpet mine is a kind of naval mine that attaches to the aspect of a ship, often by a diver-member of particular forces. It later explodes, and may considerably injury a vessel.The discovery got here amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. within the last days of President Donald Trump’s administration.Already, America has performed B-52 bomber flyovers and despatched a nuclear submarine into the Persian Gulf over what Trump officers describe as the potential of an Iranian assault on the one-year anniversary of the U.S. drone strike close to Baghdad that killed a prime Iranian common, Qassem Soleimani, and prime Iraqi militia chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.Iraq is marking the anniversary with a sequence of occasions this week, together with a ceremony at Baghdad’s airport Saturday evening, the place the strike that killed the 2 males occurred.Thousands of mourners joined a mock funeral procession on the freeway resulting in the airport, which was blocked with vehicles Saturday night.Posters of the lifeless males adorned either side of the street, which was lined with tents that served meals and drinks for individuals who walked the freeway. The scene of the bombing was became a shrine-like space sealed off by pink ropes, with a photograph of Soleimani and al-Muhandis within the center, as mourners lit candles.Shrapnel marks had been nonetheless seen on the asphalt and partitions within the space.Soleimani headed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, chargeable for the Islamic Republic’s international operations and steadily shuttling between Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. His assassination dramatically ratcheted up tensions within the area and introduced the U.S. and Iran to the brink of struggle.