Update: Iran's Revolutionary Guards Unit Sabotaged Tankers

Official: Initial US assessment blames Iran for ship attacks

• Four ships, including two Saudi oil tankers, were damaged in mysterious 'sabotage attacks' off the UAE coast 
• One of the commercial ships was said to be en route to pick up Saudi oil to transport to America 
• American military's initial assessment is that Iran or Iran-backed proxies are responsible for the sttacks
• Assessment comes amid rising tensions between U.S. and Iran and warnings conflict could break out 'by accident' 

An American military team's initial assessment is that Iranian or Iranian-backed proxies used explosives Sunday to blow large holes in four ships anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a U.S. official said Monday.

The official said each ship has a 5- to 10-foot hole in it, near or just below the water line, and the team's early belief is that the holes were caused by explosive charges.

The team of U.S. military experts was sent to investigate the damages at the request of the UAE, but American officials have not provided any details about what exactly happened or any proof as yet about the possible Iranian involvement in the explosions.

The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Amid spiralling tensions in recent days, the U.S. had warned ships that 'Iran or its proxies' could target maritime traffic in the region - and now suspects Iran was behind the latest attacks.

Asked about the sabotage, President Trump warned that Tehran would 'suffer greatly' if it enraged Washington, predicting a 'bad problem for Iran if something happens'. 

Saudi and UAE officials have been tight-lipped about the extent of the damage but pictures showed at least one tanker with a hole in its hull.   

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday called Iran a 'major destabilizing force' in the Middle East while Britain warned of the danger of a war being started in the Gulf by accident. 

Saudi Arabia has condemned 'acts of sabotage' in the Gulf but the scale of the damage remains unclear.

Iran’s special marine unit sabotaged tankers. Fujairah was outside US, Saudi, UAE purview

A special unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards marine force carried out the sabotage attack Sunday on 4 Saudi oil tankers outside Fujairah port, DEBKAfile’s exclusive sources reveal. Iran chose this venue in the Gulf of Oman waters of the United Arab Emirates for its first proactive strike against US sanctions, because it is way off the beaten track of Gulf oil export routes. There were two other reasons:

 (a) To show the US and Gulf oil nations that Tehran doesn’t need to block the Strait of Hormuz in order to disrupt the Gulf’s oil exports to international markets.

(b) The UAE has built the new Habshan-Fujairah oil pipeline there for the purpose of circumventing the Strait of Hormuz. By striking Fujairah, the Iranians demonstrated that alternative shipping routes are just as vulnerable to Iranian attack as the Gulf of Hormuz.

The above picture shows a direct hit to the Norwegian-flagged Andre Victoria oil tanker which was almost scuttled. 

Our sources note that although war tensions between US and Iran were mounting sharply, Western intelligence and the Gulf emirates were caught off-guard by the location of the Iranian attack and its precise targeting. It is now estimated that Tehran carefully calibrated the blasts to cause damage while falling short of sinking the vessels or inflicting casualties.