Saudi oil output halved as US blames Iran for ‘unprecedented’ drone attack on major facilities
- Donald Trump speaks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and offers ‘his support for Saudi Arabia’s self-defence’
- Drone strike was biggest attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure since first Gulf war
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Tehran for the destruction, calling it an “unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply”, and refuted a claim of responsibility from the Iran-linked Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while [Iranian President Hassan] Rowhani and [Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad] Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy,” Pompeo said in a tweet.
“There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.”
Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday dismissed as “meaningless” the US accusations, suggesting they were a pretext to retaliate against the Islamic republic.
“Having failed at ‘max pressure’, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo [is] turning to ‘max deceit’,” the foreign minister said in a tweet.
Foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi earlier said Pompeo’s remarks were “more like plotting by intelligence and secret organisations to damage the reputation of a country and create a framework for future actions”.