Tensions in the Gulf region have been ratcheted up dramatically in recent weeks following the deadly 29 July attack on the Mercer Street, an Israeli-managed oil tanker. Tel Aviv and its allies accused Iran of responsibility for the attack. Tehran denied the claims and warned the international community to be wary of Israeli “false flag operations.”
Israel can't “whitewash” its record of naval terrorism against Iran by throwing false accusations Tehran's way over the Mercer Street incident, Zahra Ershadi, Iran's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, has suggested.
“All such allegations [related to Mercer Street] are the repetition of fabrications pumped to media by the Israeli regime immediately after that incident. There is no irrefutable, verifiable and conclusive evidence to substantiate these grave accusations. What they are trying to portray as definite hard evidence are nothing but certain photos which prove nothing,” the diplomat said in a statement to the UN Security Council on Monday, in a likely reference to images released by US Central Command on Friday showing suspected damage to the tanker and the remains of supposed Iranian drones.
The ten ships referred to by the diplomat are Iranian commercial vessels sent to energy-starved Syria over the past two years which were struck or otherwise sabotaged by the Israeli military while on route to their destination. US and Israeli…
