With their past histories, who to believe?

Couple of days back two tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman. Norwegian owned Front Altair had a crew of 11 Russians, 11 Filipinos and one Georgian who were rescued by Hyundai Dubai but it was surrounded by Iranian military boats which forced the captain to hand the men over. The crew of the Kokuka Courageous, owned by a Japanese company, saw "flying objects" and said they were shelled. A Dutch vessel rescued the crew but it was also surrounded by Iranian military boats which demanded the crew. The Iranian news agency Irna claimed that Iranian boats had rescued 44 crew members from both vessels and taken them to the Iranian port of Jask, while the US says that USS Bainbridge rescued the 21 crew of Kokuka Courageous. The US army Central Command released a video apparently showing Iranian Revolutionary Guards removing an unexploded limpet mine from the hull of the Kokuka Courageous, but Iran denied US accusation as "ridiculous" and "dangerous". "You know they did it because you saw the boat," said President Donald Trump. "I guess one of the mines didn't explode and it's probably got essentially Iran written all over it." It seems odd that Iran would attack a Japanese tanker when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was visiting Tehran to reduce tensions between the US and Iran but, on the other hand, it is also odd why Iran would forcibly abduct the crews of the two vessels. Iran has a history of waging a 'Tanker War' in the 1980s when it is estimated to have attacked 160 ships. Mines were described as "God's angels that descend and do what is necessary" by future President of Iran Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. There were skirmishes between US and Iranian navies culminating in a deliberate shooting down of an Iranian civilian aircraft with 290 people on board by USS Vincennes. On 12 May, "Four tankers were damaged by explosions within the UAE's territorial waters in the Gulf of Oman". There seems no reason why any other nation should attack these tankers. On the other hand, the US insisted that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) as an excuse to attack Iraq when the UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix reported that all WMDs had been destroyed. This was later confirmed by the CIA. Trump said that he is ready to hold talks with Iran. "We want to get them back to the table," he said. "I'm ready when they are." "I don't consider Trump as a person worthy of exchanging messages with. I have no response for him and will not answer him," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei told Abe. With the victory of Bahsar al-Assad in Syria, Iran's influence now extends from its border with Afghanistan to the Mediterranean. However, if Iran thinks it and its allies, like the Hezbollah, can win a war against the US it is deluded, wrote Prof Jehanbegloo. We haven't even considered Israel and Saudi Arabia.