WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran is a leading candidate for having carried out attacks on four tankers near the United Arab Emirates but the United States does not have conclusive proof Tehran was behind them, a U.S. official familiar with American intelligence said on Monday.

“This is what Iran does ... The sort of thing you could see Iran doing ... It fits their M.O. (modus operandi),” said the official on condition of anonymity, saying the most obvious explanation for Iran’s statements distancing itself from the incident was that Tehran was “trying to muddy the waters.”