UAE to present probe findings of oil tankers attack to UN

The United Arab Emirates, along with Saudi Arabia and Norway, will on Thursday present to the UN Security Council the findings of their probe of the May 12 attacks on oil tankers off the Emirati coast, diplomats said. The United States has accused Iran of being behind the attacks, which came at a time of escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington.

National Security Advisor John Bolton said Iranian mines were likely used in the "sabotage." During an informal meeting at the UAE mission to the United Nations, Security Council ambassadors will be briefed on the evidence uncovered during the investigation, diplomats said.

Iran has flatly rejected accusations that it was behind the sabotage of the four tankers -- two Saudi-flagged, a Norwegian-flagged and an Emirati-flagged. Saudi Arabia maintains that the attacks affect the safety of international navigation and the security of world oil supplies.

The attacks took place within UAE territorial waters, east of the port of Fujairah, an oil export terminal on the Sea of Oman. "There's no doubt in anybody's mind in Washington who's responsible for this," Bolton said last week during a visit to Abu Dhabi.

The four tankers were attacked using "naval mines almost certainly from Iran," he told a press conference. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that Iran was trying to raise the price of oil as Washington works to end Iran's exports of crude.

Regional tensions have spiked since President Donald Trump's administration reimposed sanctions against Iran after the United States unilaterally pulled out of an international agreement that eased nternational sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program. The United States has sent nuclear-capable bombers and an aircraft carrier strike group to the Gulf, but Trump has said he does not war.

Bolton has indicated that he would be prepared to himself present evidence to the UN council of Iran's involvement in the tankers' attack, but there has been no US request for a meeting. 

(With inputs from agencies.)