WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday rejected Tehran`s denial it was behind mysterious explosions on two oil tanker s in the Gulf of Oman, claiming the incident had Iran `written all over it`.

As US-Iranian tensions soared, Trump dismissed previous threats by Tehran that in case of conflict it could block the Hormuz Strait a narrow seaway vital to the world`s oil supplies.

`They`re not going to be closing it,` he said in an interview on Fox News television.

Speaking hours after the US mili-tary released grainy footage it said showed an Iranian patrol boat removing an `unexploded limpet mine` from one of the tankers, Trump was emphatic.

`Iran did do it,` he told the `Fox and Friends` show. `You know they did it because you saw the boat. I guessoneof theminesdidn`texplode and it`s probably got essentially Iran written all over it.

`You saw the boat at night, successfully trying to take the mine off and that was exposed,` he added.

Iran rejected the US accusations.

Iranian Foreign MinisterMohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that the US had `immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran without a shred of f actual or circumstantial evidence.

He accused Washington of seeking to `sabotage diplomacy` as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Iran. One of the targeted vessels is owned by a Japanese company while the other was Norwegianoperated. Iran has repeatedly warned in the past that it could block the Hormuz Strait in a relatively lowtech, high-impact countermeasure to any attack by the US.-AFP