Washington - An overloaded tanker suspected of smuggling Iraqi oil sank in the Gulf yesterday after being boarded by a US team enforcing UN sanctions, leaving one Iraqi dead and three Iraqis and two Americans missing, the Pentagon said.
The two Americans belonged to an eight-member boarding party from the USS Peterson and the three Iraqis were part of the 14 crew aboard the 1,734-tonne Samra, which had been flying the flag of the United Arab Emirates.
Ms Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, denied any suggestion that the sinking was a US bid to provoke Iraq after driving Afghanistan's ruling Taliban from Kabul in the US-led war on terrorism.