‘Iranian missiles behind Saudi attacks’
SAUDI Arabia alleged yesterday that Iranian cruise missiles and drones attacked the heart of the kingdom’s oil industry, showing journalists the remains of the weapons while stopping short of accusing Iran of launching the assault.
Saudi military spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said the attack “came from the north,” without saying specifically where it originated. Iraq and Iran are to the north of Saudi Arabia across the Persian Gulf.
The Saturday morning attacks hit a Saudi oil field and the world’s largest crude oil processing plant, disrupting the kingdom’s oil production.
“The attack could not have originated from Yemen,” he said, disputing the claim by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels that they launched the weapons.
Iran has repeatedly denied being behind the attack.
“They want to impose maximum ... pressure on Iran through slander,” Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said.
“We don’t want conflict in the region ... Who started the conflict?” he added, blaming Washington and its Gulf allies for the war in Yemen.
Tehran has warned the US it will retaliate “immediately” if Iran is targeted over the attack on Saudi oil installations, its state-run news agency reported yesterday, further raising Mideast tensions.
Iran’s president and foreign minister also may not be able to attend next week’s highlevel meetings at the United Nations, as the US has yet to issue them visas, the official IRNA reported.
The UN meeting had been considered as an opportunity for direct talks between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and President Donald Trump amid a summer of heightened tensions and attacks in the wake of America’s unilateral withdrawal from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers a year ago.
US President Donald Trump yesterday said he ordered a major increase in sanctions on Iran as Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of drones and missiles it said Tehran used in a crippling weekend attack on its oil facilities.
Trump gave no explanation in a brief Twitter posting announcing the order. “I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase sanctions on the country of Iran!” he wrote.
(Agencies)