Bomb Team removes the mine attached to the hull

Shafaq News / the Iraqi Bomb team on Saturday dismantled the mine attached to the hull.

A security source told Shafaq News Agency that the team removed the attached mine from the Iraqi oil tanker located off the Iraqi coast.

For its part, the Security Media Cell opened an investigation in the relation to the mine attached to the oil tanker off the Iraqi coast.

A statement of the cell said “the Explosives Control Directorate at the Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with the Naval Forces Command dismantled the mine attached to one of its tankers."

Earlier, security source said on Friday that the Iraqi oil tanker had been unloaded on fears of any explosion.

The Iraqi oil tanker was evacuated after the mine was discovered attached to its hull.

The tanker was in international waters about 28 nautical miles (52 km) off Iraq’s coast in the Persian Gulf and supplying another ship with fuel when the device was discovered on Thursday afternoon, the military said in its statement.

Iraq’s navy had secured the area and the ship has been isolated from other vessels.

The Persian Gulf and Red Sea have been a hotbed for attacks on vessels in recent years, with tensions flaring between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In December, an explosion that Saudi officials described as a “terrorist” attack rocked a ship in the port of Jeddah on the Red Sea. That incident occurred just weeks after an oil tanker was damaged in a possible attack in the same body of water.

At the same time, there is heightened focus on security in the region -- particularly with Iran, which is subject to U.S. sanctions -- as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to succeed Donald Trump later this month. Almost exactly a year ago, Trump ordered a drone strike in Iraq that killed one of Iran’s most powerful generals.

For its part, The Iraqi Oil Company of the Ministry of Oil denied, on Friday, that the "mine tanker" was targeting to blow up Umm Qasr port.

The assistant general manager of the company, Ali Qais, said in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency, "The ship was not coming from Iraq, but rather it has been anchored in the so-called area Al-Maghtas within the territorial waters since October 2020," indicating that "Since yesterday, we have evacuated some of our crews."

Qais indicated that the security forces will issue its report officially after dismantling the mine.