A picture taken on September 15, 2019 shows an Aramco oil facility near al-Khurj area, just outside the Saudi capital Riyadh. Saudi Arabia raced today to restart operations at oil plants hit by drone attacks which slashed its production by half, as Iran dismissed US claims it was behind the assault. The Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is bogged down in a five-year war, have claimed thi weekend’s strikes on two plants owned by state giant Aramco in eastern Saudi Arabia. (Photo/FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi forcefully rejected Sunday unsubstantiated charges by by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) regarding the recent drone attacks that caused serious damage to two crucial Saudi Arabian oil installations.
“It has been around 5 years that the Saudi-led coalition has kept the flames of war alive in the region by repeatedly launching aggression against Yemen and committing different types of war crimes, and the Yemenis have also shown that they are standing up to war and aggression,” Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said in a statement.
“Such accusations as well as blind and futile comments are pointless and not understandable within the framework of diplomacy,” he said.“In international relations, even ‘animosity’ must have some minimum requirements and logical frameworks to be believable, but US official have ignored even these minimum requirements,” the spokesman added.
“Such comments and actions are more like planning by secret and intelligence services to tarnish the image of a country in order to set the scene for future moves,” he said.“The Americans adopted the ‘maximum pressure’ policy against Iran, which, due to its failure, is leaning towards ‘maximum lies’,” he added.
The spokesman concluded by saying that the only way to establish tranquillity in the region and put an end to the useless crisis in Yemen is to halt attacks and aggression by the Saudi-led coalition, stop Western countries’ political and arms support for the aggressors, and make efforts to work out political solutions.
Having failed at "max pressure", @SecPompeo's turning to "max deceit"
US & its clients are stuck in Yemen because of illusion that weapon superiority will lead to military victory.
Blaming Iran won't end disaster. Accepting our April '15 proposal to end war & begin talks may.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) September 15, 2019
Late Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo directly blamed Iran for the attack on Twitter, without offering any evidence to support his charge.
We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran’s attacks. The United States will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and Iran is held accountable for its aggression
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 14, 2019
This is such irresponsible simplification and it’s how we get into dumb wars of choice
The Saudis and Houthis are at war. The Saudis attack the Houthis and the Houthis attack back. Iran is backing the Houthis and has been a bad actor, but it’s just not as simple as Houthis=Iran. https://t.co/BFiO1AQe2B
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) September 14, 2019
Reuters reported that a senior commander for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps took a more strident tone than the Foreign Ministry, insisting that Iran was ready for “full-fledged” war, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported.
“Everybody should know that all American bases and their aircraft carriers in a distance of up to 2,000 kilometers around Iran are within the range of our missiles,” said Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ air force.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Saturday that it’s time for the U.S. to weigh an attack on Iranian oil refineries if the nation continues its “provocations.” He warned that such a raid would “break the regime’s back.”
Iran will not stop their misbehavior until the consequences become more real, like attacking their refineries, which will break the regime’s back.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 14, 2019
