BAGHDAD (AP) – The Iraqi army on Saturday said experts in explosives with its naval forces successfully dismantled a mine that was found stuck to an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf two days earlier.
The statement said Iraqi authorities had opened an investigation into the incident. No group has assumed responsibility for placing the mine.
The announcement came a day after Iraq confirmed reports from private security companies that a mine linked to an oil tanker leased to the Iraqi Oil Company, known as SOMO, had been discovered. it was refueling another ship. Iraqi teams were said to be working to dismantle the mine.
Iraq has not provided further details, but the two private security companies said the discovery was probably a carpet mine at MT Pola, a Liberian-flagged oil tanker.
A carpet mine is a type of naval mine that is attached to the side of a ship, usually by a member of a special forces diver. It subsequently explodes and can significantly damage a ship.
The discovery came amid intense tensions between Iran and the United States in the last days of President Donald Trump’s administration.
The United States has already carried out B-52 bombers and sent a nuclear submarine into the Persian Gulf for what Trump officials describe as the possibility of an Iranian attack on the one-year anniversary of the northern drone strike. -Americans near Baghdad who killed an Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani and the top leader of the Iraqi militia Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Iraq marks the anniversary with a series of events this week, including a ceremony at Baghdad airport on Saturday night, where the strike that killed the two men took place.
Thousands of bad guys joined a mock funeral procession on the road leading to the airport, which was blocked with cars on Saturday evening.
Posters of the dead adorned both sides of the road, which was filled with tents that served food and drink for those walking down the road. The bombing scene turned into a shrine-like area sealed with red ropes, with a photo of Soleimani and al-Muhandis in the middle, while the bad guys lit candles.
Shrapnel marks were still visible on the asphalt and walls in the area.
Soleimani led the elite of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which is responsible for foreign operations in the Islamic Republic and often transports Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. His assassination drastically increased tensions in the region and brought the United States and Iran to the brink of war.