Hong Kong to suspend divisive extradition bill, say reports - Aljazeera.com

Hong Kong's embattled government looks set to suspend a proposed law on extradition to mainland China that sparked widespread anger and violent protests, with leader Carrie Lam planning to address the press on Saturday, local media has reported.

Support for the swift passage of the controversial extradition bill began to crumble on Friday with several pro-Beijing politicians and a senior adviser to Lam saying discussion on the bill should be shelved for the time being.

Around a million people, according to protest organisers, marched through Hong Kong last Sunday to oppose the bill. The international finance hub was further rocked by political violence on Wednesday as tens of thousands of protesters were dispersed by anti-riot police firing tear gas and rubber-coated bullets. A second reading of the bill was postponed.

Another round of protests is planned for this Sunday.

The extradition bill would allow Hong Kong's chief executive to send suspected offenders to places with which the territory has no formal extradition agreement for trial. 

It would apply to Hong Kong residents and foreign and Chinese nationals living or travelling in the city to be sent to mainland China and has many concerned it may threaten the rule of law that underpins Hong Kong's international financial status.

As criticism mounted - and signs emerged of a growing discomfort among party leaders in Beijing - local media in Hong Kong reported on Saturday that Lam's administration was planning to announce some sort of climbdown as it tries to find its way out of the political crisis.

Hong Kong's iCable, the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Sing Tao newspaper, Now TV, TVB and RTHK reported that the bill would be suspended or postponed. TVB and iCable said Lam would hold a news conference on Saturday afternoon.

Lam defiant

Lam, who is appointed by a committee stacked with Beijing loyalists, has so far refused to abandon the bill despite months of criticism from business and legal bodies and in the face of the huge demonstrations.

Calls to Lam's office have also gone unanswered outside of business hours. Lam has not appeared in public or commented since Wednesday. Hong Kong media reported Lam would meet pro-Beijing legislators to explain her pending announcement.

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Backing down from efforts to drive the bill through the city's legislature by July would have been unthinkable last week when the law's passage seemed inevitable as Lam was adamant.

But on Friday she found herself facing growing calls from within her own political camp to reverse course and tamp down spiralling public anger.

Yet Michael Tien, a member of Hong Kong's legislature and a deputy to China's national parliament, said a total withdrawal of the bill was unlikely.

"The amendment is supported by the central government, so I think a withdrawal would send a political message that the central government is wrong. This would not happen under 'one country, two systems'," he told Reuters news agency, referring to the model under which Hong Kong enjoys semi-autonomy.

Tien, a member of the pro-Beijing camp, said he supported a suspension of the bill without a timetable.

Another march

Despite chatter that the government would hit pause on the bill, organisers of last Sunday's protest march stood by plans for another march this Sunday. In addition to opposing the bill, they said they would also be calling for accountability of the police for the way protests have been handled.

Lam has said the extradition law is necessary to prevent criminals using Hong Kong as a place to hide and that human rights will be protected by the city's court which will decide on case-by-case basis extraditions.

Critics, including leading lawyers and rights groups, note that China's justice system is controlled by the Communist Party, and marked by torture and forced confessions, arbitrary detention and poor access to lawyers.

Last Sunday's protest in the former British colony was the biggest political demonstration since its return to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" deal. The agreement guarantees Hong Kong's special autonomy, including freedom of assembly, free press and independent judiciary.

Many accuse China of extensive meddling since then, including obstruction of democratic reforms, interference with elections and of being behind the disappearance of five Hong Kong-based booksellers, starting in 2015, who specialised in works critical of Chinese leaders.

Beijing has denied that it has overreached in Hong Kong.

The extradition bill has spooked some of Hong Kong's tycoons into starting to move their personal wealth offshore, according to financial advisers, bankers and lawyers familiar with the details.

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2019-06-15 06:32:00Z
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Hong Kong suspends debate on controversial extradition policy - CBS News

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2019-06-14 14:34:11Z
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US donors have been footing Notre Dame work bills instead of French tycoons - Fox News

The billionaire French donors who publicly promised flashy donations totaling hundreds of millions to rebuild Notre Dame have not yet paid a penny toward the restoration of the French national monument, according to church and business officials.

Instead, it's been mainly American citizens, via the charitable foundation Friends of Notre Dame, that have footed the bills and paid salaries for the up to 150 workers employed by the cathedral since the April 15 fire that devastated the cathedral's roof and caused its masterpiece spire to collapse. This month it is handing over the first ever payment for the cathedral's reconstruction of 3.6 million euros ($4 million).

"The big donors haven't paid. Not a cent," said Andre Finot, a senior press official at Notre Dame. "They want to know what exactly their money is being spent on and if they agree to it before they hand it over, and not just to pay employees' salaries."

NOTRE DAME'S GOLDEN ALTAR CROSS SEEN GLOWING AS IMAGES EMERGE FROM INSIDE SHOWING FIRE-RAVAGED CATHEDRAL

Almost $1 billion was promised by some of France's richest and most powerful families and companies, some of whom sought to outbid each other, in the hours and days after the inferno. It prompted criticism that the donations were as much about the vanity of the donors wishing to be immortalized in the edifice's fabled stones than the preservation of church heritage.

Francois Pinault of Artemis, the parent company of Kering that owns Gucci and Saint Laurent, promised 100 million euros, while Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of French energy company Total, said his firm would match that figure. Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury giant LVMH that owns Louis Vuitton and Dior, pledged 200 million euros, as did the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation of the L'Oreal fortune.

No money has been seen, according to Finot, as the donors wait to see how the reconstruction plans progress and fight it out over contracts.

The reality on the ground is that work has been continuing around the clock for weeks and, with no legal financial mechanism in place to pay the workers, the cathedral has been reliant on the charity foundation to fund the first phase of reconstruction.

HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS PLEDGED FOR NOTRE DAME REBUILD NOT YET COLLECTED, ARCHBISHOP SAYS

The Friends of Notre Dame de Paris was founded in 2017, and its president, Michel Picaud, estimates that 90% of the donations it has received have come from American donors. Indeed, Picaud has just returned from a fund-raising trip in New York.

"Americans are very generous toward Notre Dame and the monument is very loved in America. Six out of our 11 board members are residents in the U.S.," Picaud said.

The first check toward the rebuilding, accounting for the "first stage of restorations" according to Picaud, is currently being transferred by the foundation for a sum of 3.6 million euros ($4.1 million).

While the billionaire donors delay signing their checks, the workers at the cathedral can afford no such luxury as the risk of lead poisoning has become an issue for the Parisian island on which Notre Dame is located.

NOTRE DAME'S DESTRUCTION WAS 'BOUND TO HAPPEN' AFTER YEARS OF NEGLECT AND LACK OF UPKEEP, EXPERT CLAIMS

The estimated 300 tons of lead that made up the roof melted or was released into the atmosphere during the blaze, and sent toxic dust around the island with high levels present in the soils and in administrative buildings, according to Paris' regional health agency. It has recommended that all pregnant women and children under 7 take a blood test for lead levels.

Two dedicated workers have been cleaning the toxic lead dust from the forecourt for weeks, and up to 148 more have been cleaning inside and outside the edifice as well as restoring it, according to Finot.

Workers are currently creating a wooden walkway to give them access to remove the 250 tons of burnt-out scaffolding that had been installed for the ill-fated restoration of the spire. They will then replace the existing plastic protection with a bigger, more robust "umbrella" roof. After that, they will begin the reconstruction of the roof and vaulting. The middle vault will be the first stage of the reconstruction.

Finot said this process will take a number of months and will all be paid for by the Friends of Notre Dame and other foundations.

This comes as the French parliament is slowly passing back and forth amendments to a new law that would create a "public body" to expedite the restoration of the cathedral and circumvent some of the country's famously complex labor laws.

MACRON'S VOW TO REBUILD NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL WITHIN 5 YEARS UNREALISTIC, SOME EXPERTS SAY

French President Emmanuel Macron has said the work should be completed within a five-year deadline. Macron has appointed former army chief Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin to oversee the reconstruction and crack the whip. But critics have said the timeline is overly ambitious.

A spokesman for the Pinault Collection acknowledged that the Pinault family hadn't yet handed over any money despite the progress of works, blaming that on a delay in contracts.

"In short, we are willing to pay, provided it is requested in a contractual framework," said Jean-Jacques Aillagon, adding that the Pinault family plans to pay via the Friends of Notre Dame.

The LVMH Group and the Arnault family said in a statement that it would also be working with the Friends of Notre Dame, that it was signing an agreement and that "the payments will be made as the work progresses."

Total has pledged to pay its 100 million euros via the Heritage Foundation, whose Director General Celia Verot, confirmed the multinational company has not paid a penny yet and is waiting to see what the plans are and if they are in line with each company's particular vision before they agree to transfer the money.

"How the funds will be used by the state is the big question," Verot said.

"It's not as brutal as it sounds, but it's a voluntary donation so the companies are waiting for the government's vision to see what precisely they want to fund. It's our function as the intermediary to know that the money is directed in line with the donor's wishes," she added.

NOTRE DAM CATHEDRAL'S 7 MOST ICONIC MOMENTS IN FILM

While the clean-up and consolidation work currently underway is hugely important, it does not fit that description, said another foundation official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It suggests the wealthy donors want their money to go toward long-lasting, immortalizing structures and not on ephemeral, but equally vital, cleaning and securing of the site that also still poses a real health risk for Parisians.

The Bettencourt Schueller Foundation said it, too, hasn't handed over the money because it wants to ensure it's spent on causes that fit the foundation's specific ethos — which supports craftsmanship in art.

Olivier de Challus, one of the cathedral's chief guides and architecture experts, said that one of the reasons the rich French donors haven't yet paid up is that there are still so many uncertainties about the direction of the construction work.

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De Challus said that architectural experts are using digital models to try to establish how much damage the fire did to the 13th-century stone, and whether the structures are fundamentally sound.

"It doesn't matter that the big donors haven't yet paid because the choices about the spire and the major architectural decisions will happen probably late in 2020," he said.

"That's when the large sums of money will be required."

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2019-06-14 13:54:52Z
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Japanese tanker owner contradicts U.S. officials over explosives used in Gulf of Oman attack - NBC News

The Japanese owner of a tanker attacked in the Gulf of Oman claimed Friday that it was struck by a flying projectile, contradicting reports by U.S. officials and the military on the source of the blast.

U.S. Central Command said the two vessels were hit Thursday by a limpet mine, which is attached to boats below the waterline using magnets. U.S. Central Command released video it claimed showed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps patrol boat removing an unexploded mine from one of the tankers, the Kokuka Courageous.

But on Friday morning, the owner of the 560-foot Courageous, said that sailors saw something flying toward the vessel just before the explosion and that the impact was well above the waterline.

"We received reports that something flew towards the ship," said Yutaka Katada, president of Kokaku Sangyo Co. at a press conference. "The place where the projectile landed was significantly higher than the water level, so we are absolutely sure that this wasn’t a torpedo.

"I do not think there was a time bomb or an object attached to the side of the ship."

U.S. officials have not yet responded to the claims. But President Donald Trump reiterated U.S. allegations that Iran was behind the attack, telling the Fox News Channel that the incident had "Iran written all over it."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the weapons used and the level of expertise behind the attack suggested Tehran is the culprit.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif angrily dismissed the claims and said they were without "a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence."

The attack came on the heels of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's two-day trip to Iran, aimed at improving relations between Washington and Tehran, which have deteriorated markedly in the last 48 hours.

The USS Bainbridge was dispatched to help the damaged vessels in the gulf. A spokesman for Central Command said in a statement Thursday that the U.S. and the international community "stand ready to defend our interests, including the freedom of navigation.”

“The United States has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East. However, we will defend our interests,” said the spokesman, Capt. Bill Urban.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks in a statement Friday and vowed to work with the related countries to secure the safety of the region, but did not mention Iran or other possible assailants.

Linda Givetash

Linda Givetash is a reporter based in London. She previously worked for The Canadian Press in Vancouver and Nation Media in Uganda. 

Arata Yamamoto

Arata Yamamoto has been a NBC News producer in Tokyo, Japan, since 1993.  He has worked on an array of stories, including the 2004 Asian tsunami, the 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, and Haiyan typhoon that struck The Philippines in 2013.

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2019-06-14 13:30:00Z
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Trump clarifies comments on foreign 'dirt,' says heat should be on Dems for 2016 spying - Fox News

President Trump on Friday sought to clarify his controversial comments indicating he would take information on political rivals from foreign countries, saying on "Fox & Friends" that he could report such conversations to the FBI -- while arguing the heat should really be on Democrats for the alleged spying on his 2016 campaign.

"If I was, and of course you have to look at it because if you don't look at it you're not going to know if it's bad ... of course you give it to the FBI or report it to the attorney general or somebody like that. But of course you’d do that, you couldn't have that happen with our country," he said.

TRUMP SAYS HE WOULD 'WANT TO HEAR' DIRT ON 2020 RIVALS FROM FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS 

Trump had said in an interview with ABC News earlier this week that he would listen to information from foreign governments, saying that "there isn't anything wrong with listening." He also gave conflicting answers on whether he'd contact the FBI, saying at one point that he would not.

On Friday, he seemed to say he'd report it to the FBI, at least if he sensed something was wrong. "If I thought anything was incorrect or badly stated, I'd report it to the attorney general, the FBI, I'd report it to law enforcement absolutely."

But he also noted he is in constant contact with allies, such as during his recent trip to Europe where he spoke to Queen Elizabeth II, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron. “We have many conversations, and I'm thinking gee if they say ‘we don’t like your opponent’ am I supposed to, the president of France, am I supposed to report him to the FBI?” he asked.

Instead, he sought to bring attention back to the origins of the Russia probe, particularly the Democrat-funded anti-Trump dossier that was used by the FBI to begin surveillance on a Trump campaign aide. The Department of Justice is currently investigating its surveillance during the 2016 campaign, but Trump directly blamed the Democrats.

"Here's the bottom line: they spied on my campaign and they got caught," he said.

Saying the actions could constitute the biggest political crime in American history, he said: “They spied on the opposing party's campaign using the intelligence apparatus of the United States.”

When presented with comments by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who accused him of a "criminal coverup" in terms of his conduct during the Russia investigation, Trump said that "it's a fascist statement, it's a disgraceful statement."

PELOSI ACCUSES REPUBLICANS OF TOLERATING TRUMP'S UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR FOR 'MONEY'

"Her party got caught spying. If you look at what happened, Hillary Clinton with the money that ultimately went to Russia for the fake dossier, the totally fake pile of stuff....and the amount of money that was paid and was paid by Hillary Clinton and the DNC and it went to Russia, that's the criminal," he said.

In the wide-ranging interview, he also warned Iran over this week's attacks on tankers in the Gulf of Oman that the U.S. blames directly on Tehran, saying that, “We don’t take it lightly.”

“Iran did do it and you know they did it because you saw the boat,” he said, before pointing to video that showed an Iranian vessel removing an unexploded mine attached to a Japanese-owned oil tanker.

Trump said the mine had “Iran written all over it.” But he said that Iran had been damaged since he took office, but was still a threat.

"They're a nation of terror and they've changed a lot since I've been president, I can tell you."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday said the Iranians had launched a “blatant assault” on tankers in the gulf.

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Pompeo said that Iran was working to disrupt the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz and this is a deliberate part of a campaign to escalate tension, adding that the U.S. would defend its forces and interests in the region.

The tensions are the latest since the U.S. announcement of its withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Iran is now also threatening to withdraw from the accord and resume enriching uranium if new terms are not offered.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and Lukas Mikelionis contributed to this report.

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2019-06-14 12:17:50Z
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David Ortiz was not the intended target, shooting suspect claims - CBS News

In new cellphone video from his holding cell, the man accused of shooting David "Big Papi" Ortiz at a Santo Domingo bar late Sunday claims the Boston Red Sox icon was not his intended target. Dominican police say Rolfy Ferreyra Cruz confessed to shooting Ortiz from point-blank range as part of a nearly $8,000 hit job.

In the video, Cruz peered through the barred window of his holding cell trying to get a message to reporters saying "it's not David … I was confused." Cruz claims "they only told me the color of his clothes," appearing to indicate he didn't realize it was Ortiz when he fired the shot.

Cruz is one of nine suspects detained in connection with the shooting at the Dial Bar and Lounge. Police rushed the suspects to and from court Thursday running through angry crowds and past reporters as they shouted questions. They tossed each of the prisoners into pickup trucks before jumping in the back themselves and racing off.

Dominican journalist Aris Beltre says the shooting has affected the country greatly, saying Ortiz is not only "Big Papi" in the U.S. but back home in the Dominican Republic too.

In Boston, Ortiz is still recovering in intensive care. In an Instagram post, his daughter wrote, "I find myself complaining on a daily basis … but my dad hasn't complained once."

Police said they're still looking for another suspect who is also wanted in the U.S. for  attempted homicide. They have not said who ordered the hit on their country's most famous athlete or why. A formal hearing for the suspects will likely take place Friday.  

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2019-06-14 11:18:00Z
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Iran rejects U.S. charge it attacked tankers after Central Command releases video - The Washington Post

The U.S. Central Command released a video June 13 it says shows Iran removing a mine from a targeted oil tanker.

ISTANBUL — Iran on Friday dismissed U.S. claims that its forces attacked two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, calling the allegations “alarming” just hours after the U.S. Central Command released a video it said showed Iranian vessels retrieving an unexploded mine from one of the damaged ships. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the United States had “immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran — [without] a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence and accused the Trump White House of “economic terrorism” and “sabotage diplomacy.”

The U.S. Central Command late Thursday made public a dark, grainy video and corresponding timeline suggesting that U.S. military assets in the region observed the Iranian vessels approaching the tanker and removing the device. 

“At 4:10 p.m. local time an IRGC Gashti Class patrol boat approached the M/T Kokuka Courageous and was observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine” from the Courageous, said Capt. Bill Urban, a Central Command spokesman.

Senior U.S. officials showed photographs to reporters of the damaged tanker Kokuka Courageous with what the Navy identified as a suspected magnetic mine attached to its hull.

The unexploded weapon was probably applied by hand from an Iranian fast boat, one official said. It is thought to be the same kind of weapon used to blow a hole elsewhere in the same tanker and to do more-serious damage to the other ship that was targeted, the Front Altair, two officials said.

The officials, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity because many elements of the investigation remain secret, said the type and timing of the attacks bear Iranian hallmarks. But U.S. officials could not yet say with certainty where the mines were manufactured or exactly how they were laid.

A picture obtained from Iranian news agency Tasnim on June 13, 2019, reportedly shows an Iranian navy boat trying to control a fire on the Norwegian-owned Front Altair tanker said to have been attacked in the waters of the Gulf of Oman. (Photo by TASNIM NEWS / AFP/Getty Images)

“There’s not too many ways in which this can be done,” one official said. “Very few that don’t involve an individual physically placing it on the ship.”

Germany’s government Friday called for an investigation into the “extraordinarily worrying” incident and said it had no information on who carried out the attacks, the Associated Press reported. 

A “spiral of escalation” must be avoided, a spokeswoman for Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters Friday in Berlin, the AP said. 

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang urged restraint and said China hopes that “all sides can jointly safeguard navigational safety in the relevant waters,” news agencies reported.

“Nobody wants to see war in the gulf,” he said. “That is not in anyone’s interest.” 

The two tankers, which carried petrochemicals from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Gulf of Oman, were targeted early Thursday in what observers said marked a serious escalation in the strategic waterway, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes. It connects energy supplies from Arab nations in the gulf, as well as Iran, to consumers around the globe.

A picture obtained from the Iranian news agency Tasnim on June 14, 2019, shows what it says are some of the crew from a tanker targeted in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman, after they were reportedly rescued by the Iranian navy on June 13, 2019. (Photo by STR / TASNIM NEWS AGENCY / AFP/Getty Images)

The Courageous is a Japanese-owned vessel and was targeted as Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, met with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran. 

A U.S. defense official said the USS Bainbridge, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer that was in the area, took on board 21 crew members from the ship. Iran’s navy also rescued crew members from the Front Altair, a Norwegian-owned ship.

“The responsibility for the security of the Strait of Hormuz lies with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we showed that we were able to rescue the sailors of the ship as soon as possible,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said, Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. 

The accusation against Iran, he said, is “not only not funny . . . but alarming and worrisome.”

U.S. officials said several nations are consulting about how to respond. One option may be to provide military escorts for commercial tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz, one official said, although no decision has been made.

A frame grab from a handout video made available by the U.S. Central Command shows a smaller boat near what appears to be the vessel Kokuka Courageous, in the Gulf of Oman, June 13, 2019 (issued 14 June 2019). According to the Navy, the video shows an Iranian Gashti Class patrol boat's crew “removing an unexploded limpet mine” from the tanker. (Photo by U.S. NAVY/U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran Thursday for the “blatant assault” on the vessels and said the United States would defend itself and its allies against Iranian aggression in the region. But he provided no evidence that the explosions were the work of Iranian forces.

Pompeo said the U.S. assessment of Iranian involvement is based on intelligence, the type of weapons used and the level of expertise needed, and that no Iranian-backed militia in the region has the resources or proficiency to pull off such a sophisticated operation.

“As the threat evolves, it’s incumbent on us to reevaluate our presence,” said one senior U.S. official.

The U.S. military has dispatched a P-8 Poseidon, an anti-ship, anti-submarine and surveillance aircraft, to the area in response to the incident, a defense official said.

The incidents were similar to suspected acts of sabotage carried out against tankers near the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah last month and looked to be the latest salvo in the mounting confrontation between the United States and Iran. As the Trump administration has tightened economic sanctions on Iran after withdrawing last year from the historic nuclear deal, Iran and its allies have responded with calibrated attacks in the Persian Gulf area, Iraq and Saudi Arabia aimed at underscoring the potential cost to U.S. interests, including the international oil trade, experts say.

Pompeo said the impetus behind the attacks was the administration’s “maximum pressure campaign” of sanctions that U.S. officials say are designed to get Iran to negotiate over its nuclear program and its support of militias in various neighboring countries.

“Our policy remains an economic and diplomatic effort to bring Iran back to the negotiating table at the right time and encourage a comprehensive deal that addresses the broad range of threats,” Pompeo said. “Iran should meet diplomacy with diplomacy, not with terror, bloodshed and extortion.”

[The oil route that could become central to mounting tensions between Iran and the U.S.]

But some experts say the recent tensions have underscored the limits of that policy.

In a climate of hostility, the tanker incidents could bring the parties closer to the brink of violent confrontation. 

“This is a way station to a wider conflict breaking out between Iran and the United States,” said Ali Vaez, senior Iran analyst and Iran project director for the International Crisis Group. “If Iran was behind it, it is very clear the maximum pressure policy of the Trump administration is rendering Iran more aggressive, not less.” 

The blasts could also reflect a widening split between pro-diplomacy officials in Iran and hard-liners opposed to further negotiations, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. The branch of the Iranian military, which boasts land, air and sea forces, answers only to Khamenei and is responsible for Iran’s external military operations. 

Iran’s security services, including the IRGC, “have a decades-long history of conducting attacks and other operations aimed precisely at undermining the diplomatic objectives of a country’s elected representatives,” the political risk firm Eurasia Group said in a briefing note Thursday.

“The attacks could have been designed to put an exclamation point on Iran’s warnings to Abe about the risks of instability in the region,” the note said. About 80 percent of Japan’s oil imports come from the Middle East and pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

The blasts occurred 24 nautical miles from the nearest IRGC naval base, one U.S. official said. IRGC ships are frequently present in that area but had not until recently begun to harass or impede shipping, the official said.

“It’s clear that there is a pattern of Iranian naval activity in and around commercial shipping lanes that is inconsistent with their prior behavior,” the official said.

The attacks are part of Iran’s response to tightening U.S. sanctions, one official said. He described the Iranian view this way: “If we can’t ship oil, no one can.”

Anne Gearan and Carol Morello in Washington and Simon Denyer and Akiko Kashiwagi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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2019-06-14 12:08:05Z
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