Iran's Rouhani says US actions threaten Middle East stability

Statement comes after attack on oil tankers transiting through Gulf of Oman

US actions pose a serious threat to stability in the Middle East, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told the leaders of a China-led security bloc including Russia and India on Friday.

The United States blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday that drove up oil prices and raised concern about a new US-Iranian confrontation. Iran denied any connection with the attacks.

Rouhani did not mention the attacks but focused his criticism on US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal last year from world powers’ 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

He said Iran continued to honor the accord. “Iran asks the remaining participants in the nuclear deal to immediately [meet] their commitments,” Rouhani told the meeting in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.