The U.S. Navy has released video it says shows an Iranian patrol boat removing an unexploded limpet mine from the hull of one of two tankers carrying petroleum products that were attacked in the Gulf of Oman Thursday, VOA reports.
One of the tankers is Norwegian-owned, and the other is owned by Japanese Kokuka Sangyo shipping company.
Photographs also released by the U.S. military show the removed mine had been attached to the Japanese tanker, slightly forward of a mine that had exploded.
The Norwegian tanker was set on fire and sent up smoke thick and black enough to be seen by satellites in space.
The head of the Kokuka Sangyo shipping company, which operates the tanker Kokuka Courageous, said the ship had been attacked twice, with one explosion near the engine room and another on the right-hand side, near the back.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Yutaka Katada, said the crew of the vessel reported they saw a “flying object” just before the second blast on board, suggesting the tanker was not damaged by mines.
Katada’s statement contradicts the U.S. account of the incident.