AMY GOODMAN: Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are again ratcheting up as the U.S. accused Iran of orchestrating an attack Thursday on Japanese and Norwegian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. Iran denied any involvement and accused the Trump administration of trying to sabotage diplomacy. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo directly accused Iran of attacking the oil tankers, just hours after the incident.

SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO: It is the assessment of the United States government that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks that occurred in the Gulf of Oman today. This assessment is based on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping, and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication.

AMY GOODMAN: On Thursday night, the United States also released video of which it claimed was Iran’s Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded mine from the side of the Japanese oil tanker attacked. However, the president of the Japanese company that owns the ship said it was not attacked by mines but two flying objects. He also said he does not believe any objects were attached to the side of the ship. Iranian ships did approach the oil tankers after the attack, but, according to multiple news accounts, the Iranians helped rescue dozens of crew members from the tankers.

The timing of the incident also raised many questions as it came as the Japanese prime minister was visiting Iran in an attempt to bring Iran and the United States to the negotiating table. Iranian-American Trita Parsi said, quote, “Sounds like some are afraid Japan may succeed in starting diplomacy. The message appears to be: Don’t you dare stand in the way of my war plans,” Trita Parsi said. Last month, the U.S. blamed Iran for attacking four other oil tankers in the Persian Gulf but offered no evidence.

Well, for more, we’re joined now by Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, chief editor of LeftWord Books. He’s also the chief correspondent of Globetrotter. He is the author of several books, including The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Vijay Prashad. Respond to what’s happening right now in the Gulf of Oman.

VIJAY PRASHAD: Hello, Amy. It’s, I think, important to pay attention to the words you just used. You said that only hours after the attack or the bombings in the Norwegian and Japanese tanker, the U.S. Secretary of State went out there and blamed Iran—hours after. You know, it’s very interesting. There’s a kind of rush to blame Iran for anything that’s been happening around the Gulf of Hormuz.

People who look closely at the oil business understand that 50% of the world’s oil goes through the Gulf of Hormuz. They understand that, you know, carrying oil is a dangerous activity. All kinds of things happen. There are accidents. There’s piracy. There are a series of quite common risks faced by oil tankers. Iran is not one of those high on the list as far as risk assessors are concerned. And yet, of course, this is the first thing the United States government has said, as you said, without any evidence. So, within a few hours and without any evidence, the United States government once more provoking some sort of response from Iran, perhaps, or at least to try to galvanize public opinion to believe that Iran is a threat to the world.

What’s really important here is, yes, the fact that Shinzo Abe, the first Japanese prime minister to visit Iran in 41 years, he goes to Iran shortly after the Iranian foreign minister visited him in Japan. In fact, Mr. Zarif visited Shinzo Abe in his home. They had a very important conversation, where Shinzo Abe said that the Iranian nuclear deal is a factor of stability for West Asia. You know, this goes directly opposed to the Trump administration’s view. And what’s very important here is we’re not talking about a country that’s far from the American orbit. This is Japan, a reliable ally of the United States, which is not only reliant upon Iranian oil but understands that the warmongering in West Asia is going to be very bad, not only for Eurasia, but for the world. And I think we need to understand that as Shinzo Abe is in Japan [sic], this attack or this, you know, sabotage, or whatever it is—

AMY GOODMAN: Is in Iran.

VIJAY PRASHAD: —took place on the Norwegian and Japanese tankers.

AMY GOODMAN: Again, as Shinzo Abe is in Iran.

VIJAY PRASHAD: That’s right. He was in Tehran, the first time in 41 years. And he has been saying, actually—interestingly, this is a right-wing prime minister; this is not a person of the left. He has been saying that there needs to be a return to the table.

It’s not only Japan saying this, Amy; it’s also the Europeans. The Europeans are very keen that the U.S. not break fully from this Iran deal. The Germans, in fact, have been looking for an alternative mechanism for payments. You know, India, which was one of the largest purchasers of Iranian oil, had to back off because of these new, very tight sanctions put in place by the U.S. government. But the Indians are also not that interested in this new approach by the Trump administration. They would like to continue to buy oil.

In fact, it’s a kind of isolation that the United States is facing. It’s isolated alongside the Israelis, the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates. Nobody else wants war. Nobody else wants this deal to end. And so, I think it’s really out of frustration that you see the United States jump the gun, come in very quickly and say that, you know, “Iran is doing this, Iran is doing that, and therefore we have to retaliate.”

It’s important to remember that in 2017 the CIA created a special unit called the Iran Mission Center, run by Michael D’Andrea. And this is an important outfit, because its entire mandate has been to ratchet up pressure on Iran. Now, I don’t know what happened to the Norwegian oil tanker or the Japanese oil tanker, but I’d be very interested to hear what the Iran Mission Center at the CIA has been up to since 2017.

AMY GOODMAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted Thursday, “Reported attacks on Japan-related tankers occurred while PM @AbeShinzo was meeting with Ayatollah @Khamenei_ir for extensive and friendly talks. Suspicious doesn’t begin to describe what likely transpired this morning. Iran’s proposed Regional Dialogue Forum is imperative,” he said. Vijay Prashad?

VIJAY PRASHAD: You know, Mr. Zarif is a very capable diplomat, a very reasonable person. He has been leading Iranian diplomacy and has opened many doors to a diplomatic solution for the standoff around Iran. And I think we need to take seriously what Mr. Zarif is saying here. When he uses the word “suspicious,” I think we should underline that word. Again, I’m not saying what happened in the Gulf of Hormuz is very clear, that there are alternative explanations. We don’t know what happened. We should be suspicious of the narrative put forward by the U.S. State Department, but we should also be suspicious about what happened. We need to ask more questions.

I mean, consider this from a regional standpoint. The United States, the Russians and others are in the middle of a very serious diplomatic effort in Afghanistan. There are meetings that the U.S. has held in Doha, Qatar, there are meetings that the Russians have held in Moscow, to dial down the almost 19-year war that has been taking place in Afghanistan. Imagine if the United States strikes against Iran right now. It would bring catastrophe further to Afghanistan. It would open up the wounds in Iraq and in Syria. Mr. Zarif has made it very clear that an attack on Iran is not merely an attack on Iran, it’s going to create even more catastrophe in that region. That’s one of the main reasons, Amy, why the Chinese are very interested in not allowing any kind of war in that region. They have a lot at stake, especially in terms of their Belt and Road Initiative, which cuts right through this region, goes through Iran. Nobody wants a war here.

It’s important for Americans to understand that the U.S. government is deeply isolated on this issue of Iran and on the way that the U.S. government portrays Iran. In the rest of the world, Iran is seen as a stabilizing force in that region. For some strange reason, the U.S. government believes that Iran is an interloper. In other words, there are almost 80 million Iranians who live in West Asia, and they somehow are seen to be out of place, whereas the United States, which is, you know, thousands of miles away, portrays itself as a regional actor. This is very bizarre for people around the world. And I think Americans need to understand that.

AMY GOODMAN: On Thursday, members of the House Armed Services Committee from both parties said Pompeo told them in a classified briefing that the United States could use the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF, to attack Iran without congressional approval. This is the Michigan Democrat Elissa Slotkin.

REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN: We were absolutely presented with a full formal presentation on how the 2001 AUMF might authorize war on Iran. Yes, I’m sorry, sir, Secretary Pompeo said it with his own words.

AMY GOODMAN: The AUMF was passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and authorizes the president to take military action against those responsible, along with any, quote, “associated forces.” Your response to that, Vijay Prashad? And what role do you think Saudi Arabia is playing in all of this?

VIJAY PRASHAD: I mean, look, this is very chilling, very disturbing. You know, they are marching us directly into a war. In other words, they are marching the world into war. They are pushing Iran. The sanctions have had a catastrophic impact on Iran’s external revenues, its ability to earn money. There is, you know, a serious medical crisis inside the country. I think focus should be on that. You know, we’ve already seen how sanctions destroy countries, how they put a lot of stress on the country. But that’s not the focus of anybody’s attention. You know, we’re allowing people like Mr. Pompeo, John Bolton and others to set the agenda here. They are being allowed to say that Iran is a criminal country and must be therefore attacked. I think this is very disturbing.

Saudi Arabia, of course, is playing a lead role in this. I mentioned the Iran Mission Center. Mr. Michael [D’Andrea] is very close to the Saudis, in fact has played an important role in the CIA’s drone program and is likely to have had some role in the Saudi war on Yemen. So, I mean, this is something for people to consider.

This very quick march to war must be stopped. I mean, the reason I’m saying this, it’s not just about Iran; it’s about the region, it’s about Eurasia. And the Trump administration, I think, is playing fast and loose with the facts and is being very reckless with world affairs on this. You know, we see the Trump administration behaving recklessly, mercurially perhaps, in other parts of the world. That’s true. But with Iran, I think their finger is right on the trigger. And the very fact that Pompeo gave this briefing should suggest to people that this is not the time to be cynical, to sit back and say, “I don’t think they’re going to do it.” It’s very likely that the United States is going to make some strike on Iran, and that strike is going to open further the gates of hell for the region.

AMY GOODMAN: Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, chief editor of LeftWord [Books], we are going to break right now, and when we come back, I want to ask you about the extradition proceedings that have begun against Julian Assange, who’s in the Belmarsh Prison in London, and look at why one of his friends, the internet activist Ola Bini, has been jailed in Ecuador for over two months, picked up the same day as Julian Assange. This is Democracy Now! Back with Vijay Prashad in a minute.