DUBAI – The weapons used to strike Saudi oil facilities were Iranian-made, the Riyadh-led coalition said Monday, heightening fears of regional conflict after the US hinted at a military response to the assault.
The weekend strikes on Abqaiq –- the world’s largest oil processing facility –- and the Khurais oil field in eastern Saudi Arabia sent oil prices spiking Monday.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Huthi rebels claimed responsibility for the operation but Washington has squarely blamed Iran, with President Donald Trump saying the US is “locked and loaded” to respond.
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the US was preparing a response.
“The United States military, with our interagency team, is working with our partners to address this unprecedented attack and defend the international rules-based order that is being undermined by Iran,” he said in a tweet.
Saudi’s energy infrastructure has been hit before, but this strike was of a different scale, abruptly halting half the OPEC kingpin’s output — some six percent of the world’s oil supply.
The Saudi-led coalition, which is bogged down in a five-year war in neighbouring Yemen, reiterated the assessment that the Huthis were not behind it, pointing the finger at Iran for providing the arms.
“All indications are that weapons used in both attacks came from Iran,” rather than Yemen, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki told reporters in Riyadh, adding that an investigation was underway.
https://92newshd.tv/weapons-used-in-attacks-on-saudi-oil-facilities-came-from-iran-coalition
