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A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 12 OctOber 2019
Iran says oil tanker struck by missiles off Saudi Arabia

By NASSER KARIMI miles) southwest of Jiddah,
JON GAMBRELL according to data from
Associated Press MarineTraffic.com. The
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Two ship is carrying some 1 mil-
missiles struck an Iranian lion barrels of crude oil, ac-
tanker traveling through cording to an analysis from
the Red Sea off the coast of data firm Refinitiv.
Saudi Arabia on Friday, Ira- Images released by Iran's
nian officials said, the latest Petroleum Ministry ap-
incident in the region amid peared to show no visible
months of heightened ten- damage to the Sabiti vis-
sions between Tehran and ible from its bridge, though
the U.S. they did not show the ship's
There was no word from sides. The ministry's SHANA
Saudi Arabia on the re- news agency said no ship
ported attack and Saudi nor any authority in the
officials did not immediate- area responded to its dis-
ly respond to requests for tress messages.
comment. Oil prices spiked The Sabiti last turned on its
by 2% on the news. tracking devices in August
"This latest incident, if con- near the Iranian port city
firmed to be an act of ag- of Bandar Abbas. Iranian
gression is highly likely to be tankers routinely turn off
part of the wider narrative their trackers as U.S. sanc-
of deteriorating relations tions target the sale of Iran's
between Saudi and the crude oil.
U.S. and Iran," private mari- This photo released by the official news agency of the Iranian Oil Ministry, SHANA, shows Iranian "The oil tanker ... sustained
time security firm Dryad oil tanker Sabiti traveling through the Red Sea Friday, Oct. 11, 2019. damages to the body
Maritime warned. Associated Press when it was hit by missiles
"It is likely that the region, 60 miles (96 kilometers)
have being stable for the added. near the Saudi port city of identified the stricken ves- from the Saudi port city of
last month, will face an- Iranian state television said Jiddah. The leak was later sel as the Sabiti. It turned Jiddah," IRNA said.
other period of increasing the explosion damaged stopped, IRNA reported. on its tracking devices late The agency did not say
maritime threats, as the Ira- two storerooms aboard the The state-run IRNA news Friday morning in the Red whom Iranian officials sus-
nian and Saudi geopoliti- oil tanker and caused an agency, quoting Iran's Na- Sea, putting its location pect of launching the
cal stand-off continues," it oil leak into the Red Sea tional Iranian Tanker Co., some 130 kilometers (80 missiles.q

Putin says he doubts Ukraine can deliver on peace process

By YURAS KARMANAU bring peace to the sepa- Far-right groups are plan-
NATALIYA VASILYEVA ratist-held eastern Ukraine ning to stage a major rally
Associated Press where 13,000 people have in the capital Kyiv on Mon-
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Rus- died since 2014 but said it day against Zelenskiy's
sian President Vladimir Putin is up to Zelenskiy and the peace plan.
lamented Friday the inabil- Ukrainian establishment to Speaking at a military
ity of his Ukrainian counter- see through the accords. awards ceremony in Odes-
part, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, "We've agreed on the pull- sa on Friday, Zelenskiy said
to ensure a pullback of back of the forces but the he works "24 hours a day"
heavy weaponry in eastern current president still can't to bring about peace but
Ukraine as the first step to- ensure the pullback," Putin insisted that he stands firm
ward peace settlement. said at a meeting in Turk- on Ukraine's commitment
Putin's remarks on Friday menistan. "He just can't." to hold a local election in
came a week after Ukraine, Zelenskiy scored a major eastern Ukraine as long as
along with Russia and sep- Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking at the political victory last month the vote is held under the
aratists in eastern Ukraine, Summit of leaders from the Commonwealth of Independent when he successfully ne- Ukrainian law and in the
signed an accord to pull States (CIS) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2019. gotiated with Putin a major presence of international
back heavy weaponry and Associated Press prisoner exchange, which observers.
to hold an election in the saw 70 people — some of Kyiv's Joint Forces' Opera-
area at a later date. Russia has said the pullback Several opposition par- whom were imprisoned tion in the east said Friday
The pullback has not oc- needs to take place before ties and far-right groups for several years — return that their positions have
curred because of shelling a summit scheduled for have opposed Zelenskiy's home in Ukraine and Rus- come under repeated
from both sides and threats this month between Putin, commitment to pull back sia, respectively. shelling in the past 24 hours.
from Ukrainian hardliners Zelenskiy, French President weaponry in two locations Zelenskiy, who was a suc- In Donetsk, separatist com-
to hamper the disengage- Emmanuel Macron and near the separatist-held ar- cessful comedian and en- mander Ruslan Yakubov
ment, prompting Zelenskiy German Chancellor An- eas as well as his promise tertainment producer be- told the DAN News website
to argue that there won't gela Merkel. Russia has ve- to support a local election, fore he won the election by that the rebel forces were
be one so long as there are hemently denied its role in saying he's giving away too a landslide in April, made it ready for the pullback but
those who "don't want the funding, arming and train- much. his top priority to bring an did not go ahead because
disengagement" and "do ing the rebels, insisting that Putin said that Russia is sup- end to the war in Ukraine's Kyiv did not indicate its
random shooting." Kyiv faces a civil war. portive of the initiatives to industrial heartland. readiness.q