US focus on building consensus after oil tanker attacks: Pentagon

US President Donald Trump’s administration is focused on building international consensus following attacks on two oil tankers in the Middle East that the US has blamed on Iran, acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said on Friday.

Shanahan told Pentagon reporters that he, White House National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shared that goal.

Iran has denounced as “ridiculous” and “dangerous” US allegations that Tehran was behind the attacks near the Strait of Hormuz.

The two vessels – the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous and the Norwegian-owned Front Altair – were damaged on Thursday morning as they were leaving the Gulf of Oman, the second such incident in four weeks that sent Brent crude prices up and heightened tensions in the region.

Shanahan, asked later whether he was considering sending more US troops  or military capabilities to the Middle East, said: “As you know we’re always planning various contingencies.”

But he then returned to the issue of building consensus.

“When you look at the situation, a Norwegian ship, a Japanese ship, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, 15 percent of the world’s oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.

“So we obviously need to make contingency plans should the situation deteriorate. We also need to broaden our (international) support for this international situation,” he added.

Shanahan said the Pentagon’s role would include sharing intelligence, as the US military’s Central Command did on Thursday by publicly releasing a grainy video it claimed showed Iran’s military removing an unexploded mine from Kokuka Courageous, hours after the suspected attacks.