US focused on building international consensus following attacks in Middle East

US President Donald Trump’s administration is focused on building international consensus following attacks on oil tankers in the Middle East that the United States has blamed on Iran, acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Friday.

“The focus for myself and Ambassador Bolton and Secretary Pompeo is to build international consensus to this international problem,” Shanahan told reporters outside the Pentagon, referring to White House national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Shanahan said the Pentagon’s role in that effort would include sharing intelligence, as the US military’s Central Command did on Thursday by publicly releasing a video it said showed Iran’s military removing an unexploded mine from one of the tankers.

President Donald Trump had confirmed earlier on Friday the assessment of his top advisers and publicly accused Tehran of responsibility for recent attacks on tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.