‘Locked and loaded’

Trump ready to act over Saudi oil attack as blame shifts focus

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said the United States was “locked and loaded” for a potential response to the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, after a senior official in his administration said Iran was to blame.

“There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!” Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday.

He said he had authorised the use of the US emergency oil stockpile to ensure stable supplies after the attack, which shut 5 per cent of world production.

“Based on the attack on Saudi Arabia, which may have an impact on oil prices, I have authorised the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, if needed, in a to-bedetermined amount sufficient to keep the markets well-supplied,” Mr Trump said.

Oil prices surged more than 15 per cent at the open on Sunday on worries over global supply and soaring tensions in the Middle East. State oil giant Saudi Aramco said the attack on Saturday had cut output by 5.7 million barrels per day.

Earlier in the day, a senior US official told reporters that evidence from the attack, which hit the world’s biggest oil-processing facility, indicated Iran was behind it, instead of the Yemeni Houthi group that had claimed responsibility.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi dismissed the US allegation it was responsible as “pointless”.

A senior Revolutionary Guards commander warned that the Islamic Republic was ready for “full-fledged” war.

“All American bases and their aircraft carriers in a distance of up to 2000 kilometres around Iran are within the range of our missiles,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Commander Amirali Hajizadeh as saying.

The US official, who asked not to be named, said on Sunday there were 19 points of impact in the attack and that evidence showed the launch area was west-northwest of the targets – not south from Yemen.