Radio Recap: BREAKING: “Highly Likely” Iran Attacked Two Oil Tankers

It has happened yet again. Two oil tankers have been attacked and officials are saying it’s “highly likely” Iran is behind the attacks.

On today’s broadcast, we discussed the breaking story that two oil tankers belonging to U.S. allies were attacked in the Gulf of Oman. All signs are pointing directly at Iran as the culprits.

As of this morning, the two tankers were still on fire in the Gulf. While Tehran has denied responsibility, a defense official has reportedly stated it suspects Iran carried out or sponsored the attacks.

A U.S. defense official told CBS News senior national security correspondent David Martin it was "highly likely Iran caused these attacks" on Thursday. The official dismissed an Iranian claim to have rescued the crews of both vessels in the Gulf of Oman as "patently false." He said the USS Bainbridge picked up 21 crew members.

The two tankers attacked belonged to Norway and Japan respectively. This is the second attack on oil tankers in the last month. In May, four tankers were struck with some form of explosives, and Iran remains the chief suspect in those attacks as well.

Our own Colonel Skip Ash added that these attacks might not necessarily have been committed with torpedoes. There are also magnetic explosive devices that can be set with timers to detonate after they’ve been placed, meaning it’s not simple to track where a weapon may have been launched from.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) spoke to Fox News this morning regarding the attack and added that Iran could easily activate any of a string of militia groups to commit such an attack.

“The idea that it really would be anybody else with that kind of capability, I don’t know who that would be or what the motivation would be. This is a pattern with Iran. I think the thing we have to keep in mind – Iran has been attacking U.S. interests for 30 years. A quarter of Americans that died in Iraq in that war were a result of Iran. This is nothing new. And what they do is a version of hybrid warfare. So it may not have been an Iranian sub, for instance that did this, but they can energize different groups, whether it’s the different militia groups in the region to do their bidding. So this is what we’re obviously on defense for.”

During the show, we wondered why Iran would do something like this. It’s likely a response to the tough sanctions we placed on Iran due to its continual sponsorship of terrorist organizations. Those sanctions have hit Iran hard in the pocketbook. Now they want to hold the world’s oil hostage. Iran is a difficult place, and rather than cooperate, it is acting out.

If they think attacks like this will force the U.S. to remove these sanctions, they don’t know our President.

You can listen to the entire episode here.