Terror threat to oil supplies ‘most worrying scenario:’ Japan
Coalition: Preliminary results show weapons used in Saudi refinery strikes were Iranian, launch location close to being identified Trump questions Iran’s denial of blame over attacks
Japanese Minister of Defense Taro Kono on Monday warned that threats to his country’s oil supplies were the “most worrying scenario” he could imagine in the wake of “terrorist” attacks on Saudi Arabian oil production facilities.
“The most pessimistic scenario right now is that something happens in the Strait of Hormuz and the oil supply gets cut down. That would send a shock wave through the global economy.
“I think the price of oil is already rising after this attack on Saudi facilities, so that’s the most worrying scenario right now,” Kono told a conference in the Japanese capital Tokyo.
However, speaking on the sideattack. I think we may require some kind of military operation against those drone attacks, and that’s something out of Japan’s constitutional boundary. I think Japan will be focusing on diplomatic efforts in easing tension in the region.” Meanwhile, the Arab coalition fighting to restore the internationally recognized government in Yemen said on Monday that the strikes on Saudi oil plants were carried out with Iranian weapons and were not launched from Yemen, according to preliminary findings. Coalition spokesman, Col. Turki Al-Malki, said that an investigation into Saturday’s attacks, which had been claimed by the Iran-aligned Houthi group, was still going on to determine the launch location. “The preliminary results show that the weapons are Iranian and we are currently working to determine the location ... The terrorist attack did not originate from Yemen as the Houthi militia claimed,” Al-Malki told a press conference in Riyadh.
He said authorities would reveal the location from where drones were launched at a future press briefing.
US President Donald Trump on Monday questioned Iran’s claim that it had nothing to do with weekend attacks on a giant oil refinery in Saudi Arabia that have cut off 5 percent of global crude output. “Remember when Iran shot down a drone, saying knowingly that it was in their ‘airspace’ when, in fact, it was nowhere close? They stuck strongly to that story knowing that it was a very big lie. Now they say that they had nothing to do with the attack on Saudi Arabia. We’ll see,” Trump wrote in a post. A spokesperson for the German Federal Foreign Office said: “Germany strongly condemns the attack of Sept. 14 on two oil facilities in Khurais and Abqaiq, for which the Houthis have claimed responsibility. “There is no justification for such an attack on Saudi Arabia’s civilian and critical infrastructure. It heightens tensions and is the very opposite of the de-escalation which we so urgently need in the region.”