The development comes shortly after Britain's ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, denied reports that he had been summoned by the Iranian Foreign Ministry in the wake of London accusing Tehran of attacking two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on 13 June.
The BBC has cited Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt as claiming that the UK has done its “own intelligence assessment”, which showed that Iran was “almost certainly” behind the oil tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman.
“We have done our own intelligence assessment and the phrase we used is almost certain… We don't believe anyone else could have done this”, he said.
Hunt, who previously claimed that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), designated as a terrorist group by the US, was “almost certainly” responsible for the attacks, also urged all sides to de-escalate.
Meanwhile, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday that the situation in the Gulf of Oman was potentially dangerous for the world economy, and urged to ignore “unfounded finger pointing”.
Hunt's allegations come shortly after the United States accused Iran of targeting the vessels on 13 June, with the US CENTCOM releasing video “proof” claiming to show Iranian sailors removing an unexploded mine from the hull of one of the tankers.
In a parallel development, UK ambassador to Iran Rob Macaire took to Twitter to brush off reports that he had been summoned by the Iranian Foreign Ministry over London's accusations and said that…