Saudi Arabia has ramped up the pressure on Donald Trump to respond to a devastating strike on two major oil installations, displaying drone and missile technology it insisted showed the attack was “unquestionably sponsored by Iran”.
At a press conference in Riyadh, a Saudi defence spokesman claimed that 25 drones and cruise missiles were used in the attack on the Aramco facilities on Saturday, saying repeatedly they had been fired from the north, the direction of Iran. Asked for his response, Trump said “We know very much what happened” but argued that it was “a sign of strength” that he has thus far taken no military action against Iran.
“How did going into Iraq work out?” Trump asked, then added: “There’s plenty of time to do some dastardly things. It’s very easy to start. And we’ll see what happens.” The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, confirmed on Wednesday that an international team of experts was on the way to Saudi Arabia to investigate.
Trump put the emphasis on further sanctions on Iran, tweeting on Wednesday morning that he had instructed the US treasury to “substantially increase” sanctions. He later told reporters he would provide details within the next 48 hours. The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, arrived in Jeddah on Wednesday to confer with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on a coordinated response.
“We are working to build a coalition to develop a plan to deter them. This is what needs to happen. This is an attack on a scale that we’ve just not seen before,” Pompeo told journalists, describing the assault as “an act of war”.
The Saudi press conference came on a day when:
- President Hassan Rouhani of Iran insisted the attack had been carried out by Houthi rebels in Yemen, and threatened to respond to any US military attacks.
- The Houthis held their own press conference to substantiate their claim of responsibility.
- And Trump discussed the crisis by phone with Boris Johnson, agreeing on “the need for a united diplomatic response”, according to No 10.
At the Saudi press conference, Lt Col Turki al-Maliki said the country was still working to identify the precise launch point of the attack, but claimed the debris and data technology was of Iranian origin, and promised to share all the evidence with the UN and Saudi’s allies.
He also repeatedly asserted it was the responsibility of the whole international community to respond, saying: “Iran’s continued aggression and continued support for militia groups harms us all.” He said Saudi Arabia had recently intercepted 282 ballistic missiles and 258 UAVs or drones. The bulk of these are likely to have come from Yemen.
He added: “The cruise missiles used were of advanced capability, we have the date of the manufacture which is 2019 – Iran’s IRGC has this type of weaponry – all the evidence that we have gathered from the site proves that Iran’s weaponry was used in the attack.”
The cruise missile could not reach the oil facilities if they had been fired from Yemen, he said. In his own comments to the press before landing in Jeddah, Pompeo claimed there was solid proof that Iran had carried out the attack.
“This was an Iranian attack. It’s not the case that you can subcontract out the devastation of 5% of the world’s global energy supply and think that you can absolve yourself of responsibilities,” he said. “The intelligence community has high confidence that these were not weapons that would have been in the possession of the Houthis.”
Pompeo stressed that the US aim was to bolster Saudi defences to prevent another attack, rather than retaliate for the airstrikes on Saturday. “We want to work to make sure that infrastructure and resources are put in place such that attacks like this would be less successful than this one appears to have been,” he said.
