Photos of a deadly drone strike on the Mercer Street tanker have been released

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New photos released by the US Central Command show where a missile loaded with explosives landed on a tanker, killing two crew members (Photo: AFP)

Iran has denied Western intelligence information showing its responsibility for an attack on an oil tanker in it that killed a British sailor, describing it as “psychological warfare”.

The republic’s vehement denials come with the publication of new images of the damage caused by the fatal strike on Mercer Street off the coast of Oman.

Adrian Underwood, an Army veteran and father, died alongside the ship’s Roman captain when a drone laden with powerful explosives collided with the ship as it was safely crossing a major shipping route in the bay.

The attack came amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, which have accused each other of strategic strikes on ships and cyber attacks in recent months.

Mercer Street, which hoists the Liberian flag and is owned by the Japanese. It is run by Zodiac Maritime, a London-based company with connections to an Israeli shipping billionaire.

On Friday, G7 foreign ministers jointly accused Iran of threatening international peace and security.

And US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had said earlier that he was “confident that Iran carried out this attack.”

Mercer Street has taken a hit that all Western intelligence agencies have concluded must have been ordered by Tehran (Image: AFP) Two crew members have been killed as tensions between Israel and Iran threaten further skirmishes in the Gulf (Photo: Agency French press) Explosives experts are convinced that the weapon must have come from Iran (Photo: AFP)

But a spokesman for Iran’s armed forces, Abolfazl Shukrji, told state media, “If we want to confront the enemies… we will announce it publicly, so the enemies’ telling of stories is a psychological process.”

Tehran categorically denied any involvement and accused Britain, Israel and the United States of creating “insecurity…and hatred of Iran”.

He hinted that Israel was in fact behind the attack and rejected evidence from US military experts that the attack was carried out by an Iranian drone.

Adrian Underwood, a British national, was working on the ship as a security guard when he was killed (Image: Facebook) The ship only had loose ties to Israel, prompting speculation among some analysts that the strike might have been due to an Iranian intelligence mistake (Photo: AFP)

British officials raised the issue at a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday.

Mohsen Baharvand, Iran’s ambassador to London, was summoned to the State Department on Monday to meet with Secretary of State James Cleverly.

According to a statement, he “reiterated that Iran must immediately stop actions that threaten international peace and security, and stressed the need to allow ships to sail freely in accordance with international law.”

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab described the attack as “deliberate, targeted and a clear violation of international law”.

More: the world

The ‘shadow war’ is taking place between Iran and Israel against the backdrop of stalled efforts to revive the Iranian nuclear agreement.

President Barack Obama in 2015 agreed a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, but Donald Trump torpedoed it.

Talks are underway in Vienna to end the crisis but there are few signs of a major breakthrough.

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