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The missile missed the drone and fell to the water, said the official.
Before firing, the US drone MQ-9 Reaper had observed Iranian ships approaching the tankers, added the official, without however specify whether the unmanned aircraft had seen the boats make a real attack.
Yet this is the first claim that the US has information about Iranian movements before the attack.
CNN has seen no picture of American UAVs.
Iran has firmly denied any involvement in the attack.
The same official also said in the days leading up to the attack, an American drone Reaper had been shot down in the Red Sea by an Iranian missile that was allegedly fired by Houthi rebels.
The Pentagon had harsh words toward Iran on Friday as the United States continues to badert that Tehran was responsible for the attack on the two oil tankers in international waters after posting a video showing a Iranian patrol boat removing an unexploded mine from one of the hulls of the ships.
"We are ensuring that General McKenzie and Central Command have the resources and support they need to carry out their missions," said Acting Secretary of State Patrick Shanahan, adding that the United States was continuing its efforts to reach an international consensus that Iran was behind the attack.
Trump says that Iran "did it"
The United Kingdom issued a statement Friday in which it was "almost certain" that a branch of the Iranian military – the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – had attacked two tankers.
The IRGC is an elite branch of the Iranian military created as a result of the country's revolution in 1979. In April 2019, the United States officially designated it as an organization. foreign terrorist, a decision that was rejected by the Tehran authorities.
No other governmental or non-state actor "would have been presumably responsible," the statement added.
Iran does not seem to be backing off and continues to be provocative, according to a US official who told CNN Friday that small Iranian boats prevent tugs from towing one of the damaged tankers.
Pat Adamson, Frontline spokesman, told CNN on Saturday that the owner of the tanker Front Altair had said he had "no information" or "no details" on any type of obstruction around his ship from the moment from the attack, told CNN.
President Donald Trump seems convinced that Tehran was responsible.
"Iran did it and you know it did it because you saw the boat," he said, seeming to refer to the images and to the video released by the Pentagon on Thursday night.
A diplomatic source of an American ally told CNN on Friday: "It is almost certain that Iran is at the origin of this latest attack, the video is sealing it now."
The source added that the goal of the US government's response so far is to publicly reveal Iran's stock and intensify the maximum pressure.
After the United States withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal, they adopted a policy of maximum economic pressure and sent a group of carriers to the region, said the source, saying "the Iranian retaliation is aimed at show that they can disrupt and drive up oil prices. "
The Trump administration had predicted that US pressure would bring Iran to the negotiating table, but European leaders did not agree, saying it would strengthen the authority of extremists, the source said.
Iran denies any involvement
Iran has denied any involvement in the incident as its foreign minister has hinted that the United States has been quick to make allegations "without any evidence."
The attack could provide more food for the Iranian hawks in the US administration, whose recent Iranian rumors have frustrated Trump. One of them, the National Security Advisor, John Bolton, announced last month that the Pentagon was deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a working group on bombers in the United States. Middle East in response to "a number of disturbing and aggravating indications and warnings" from Iran. .
The two oil tankers – one carrying oil and the other chemicals – were attacked near the strait of strategic importance, an essential seaway at the heart of regional tensions for decades. About 30% of the world's crude oil pbades through the strategic bottleneck, making it a sensitive point for political and economic friction.
Jonathan Cohen, acting US ambbadador to the United Nations, said Thursday that he was echoing Pompeo's remarks at a private meeting of the UN Security Council, describing the Attack as "another example of the destabilizing activities of Iran in the region".
The Iranian mission to the UN rejected the US request.
Alireza Miryousefi, a spokeswoman for the Iranian mission, tweeted a statement that Iran "categorically rejects the unfounded US badertion" that Iran is behind the attacks and " condemn it in the strongest possible terms ".
He added that Iran "expresses concern" about "suspicious incidents". And he described as "ironic" the fact that the United States, which withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran, the Common Global Action Plan (JCPOA), now call on Iran to return for negotiations and diplomacy.
Speaking Friday at a conference in Tajikistan, Iranian President Hbadan Rouhani said his country was willing to further reduce its commitment to the JCPOA if it did not receive the "necessary response". 39, other signatories ".
"We continue to believe that compliance with the commitments made by all signatories could play a major role in the preservation of regional and global peace and security." Iran can not unilaterally remain as a party to JCPOA, the other parties must share the same with regard to the agreement, "he said.
This story and the title have been updated.
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