Washington accuses Iran of attacking the tankers

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington considers Iran to be responsible for the attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman. “The government of the United States believes that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks in the Gulf of Oman” — TASS quoted Pompeo’s statement. According to him — Iran is trying to realize its threat of disruption of the transportation of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. Mike Pompeo said that the US will continue to use economic and political pressure on Iran. The US are also willing to use force for the defense. Later, the US Central Command reported that due to the attack on the tankers, the US missile destroyer ‘Mason’ was sent to the Gulf of Oman «for assistance.» Tehran, in turn, rejected the US allegations of the involvement in the incident. “We strongly reject any accusations on Iran. Those who accuse Iran play a major role in the creation of these incidents. They could be even the United States themselves” — said Iranian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Eshag al-Habib.

2 Poland

On Thursday, the Warsaw District Court found guilty the former head of the Polish Prime Minister’s Office, Tomash Arabskii, of criminal negligence that led to the fall of the presidential airliner on 10th of April, 2010, near Smolensk. The airplane had President Lech Kaczynski, and a representative delegation of the Polish leadership on board. Interfax reports with a reference to the Polish radio. According to the verdict of the court, Tomash Arabskii did not take the necessary actions in order to prevent the flight, although he knew that there was no airfield in Smolensk on which it would be possible to land the mentioned airplane. Aside from Tomash Arabsky, the court judged four more people — two former employees of the office of the prime minister, and two former employees of the Polish embassy in Moscow.

3 Ukraine

The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers will make a contribution from the country to the Fund of the Organization of the American States as a permanent observer, which will contribute to the development of a cooperation with the States of the Americas — Interfax reports. According to the order from the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers on 12th of June, 2019, Ukraine will contribute $40,000 of dollars to the Organization, at the expense of the budget program of the «contributions of Ukraine to the budgets of the UN, the departments and specialized agencies of the UN system, other international groups and convention organizations». It was underlined that the donation will contribute to the deepening of Kiev’s political dialogue with the Organization in the matters of regional and global security, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, human rights activities, and the development of the trade and economic cooperation.

4 Israel

On the night to Friday, the Israeli air forces once again attacked the Gaza Strip, in response to the rockets, launched from the enclave. «Tonight, the aviation of the Israel Defense Forces attacked several terrorist targets, including the terrorist infrastructure at their military bases, and even the Hamas naval base. The attack was made in response to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip earlier in the evening» — Interfax quoted the Israeli army press service. The air strikes were performed several hours after the rockets, launched from the enclave, damaged the buildings of a synagogue and a religious school in the southern Israeli city of Sderot. No-one was hurt during the rocket attacks.