Attack on oil industry ‘unquestionably sponsored by Iran’

Saudis say incident on Saturday ‘came from the north’

An attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry came “from the north” and was “unquestionably sponsored by Iran”, a military spokesman has said.

Colonel Turki al-Maliki, speaking at a news conference yesterday in Saudi capital Riyadh, did not elaborate, but to the north across the Persian Gulf are Iraq and Iran.

The military also showed journalists what they described as an Iranian cruise missile and drones used in the attack.

Officials said the missile, which had what appeared to be a jet engine attached to it, was a land attack cruise missile that failed to explode.

Saturday’s attack struck the world’s biggest oil processing facility as well as an oil field. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed the assault, but the US alleges Iran was behind it.

Iran has warned the US that any action against it will “immediately” be met with a response from Tehran, its state-run news agency has reported.

Iran’s president and foreign minister also may skip next week’s high-level meetings at the United Nations as the US has yet to issue them visas, 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 after America’s unilateral withdraw from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers a year ago.

However, the attack in Saudi Arabia and hardening comments from Tehran suggest such talks are increasingly unlikely.

Iran sent a note through Swiss diplomats on Monday reiterating that Tehran denies being involved in the Saudi attack, IRNA reported.

“If any action takes place against Iran, the action will be faced by Iran’s answer immediately,” IRNA quoted the note as saying.

IRNA separately reported that Iran’s first delegation for the annual UN event had not left Tehran due to not having visas. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was due to travel to New York on Friday, with Mr Rouhani following on Monday, according to the agency.

As the host of the UN’s headquarters, the US is mandated to offer world leaders and diplomats visas to attend meetings there, but as tensions have risen, the US has put increasing restrictions on Iranians like Mr Zarif.

“If any action takes place against Iran, the action will be faced by Iran’s answer immediately

Picture: AP. The Saudi military displays what it claims are an Iranian cruise missile and drones used in an attack on its oil industry at Saudi Aramco’s facilities, during a press conference in Riyadh.