Iran rejects US accusation it is behind Saudi attacks
Iran on Sunday forcefully rejected charges by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that it was responsible for drone attacks that caused serious damage to two crucial Saudi Arabian oil installations, with the foreign minister dismissing the remarks as “max deceit.”
The attacks Saturday, which hold the potential to disrupt global oil supplies, were claimed by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Pompeo said that Iran had launched “an unprecedented attack on the world’s oil supply,” although he did not offer any evidence and stopped short of saying that Iran had carried out the missile strikes.
The Houthis are part of a complex regional dynamic in the Middle East, receiving support from Iran while the Saudis, Tehran’s chief rival for supremacy in the region and the leader of a coalition that is fighting the Houthis in Yemen, are aligned with the United States.
Seyed Abbas Mousavi, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, castigated the Saudis for their role in the war in Yemen, where the Saudis have directed air strikes that have caused heavy civilian casualties and exacerbated a humanitarian crisis. He also ridiculed Pompeo’s comments.
The semiofficial Fars news agency reported on its English-language website that Mousavi described Pompeo’s allegations as “blind and fruitless remarks” that were “meaningless” in a diplomatic context.
Saudi Arabia has yet to publicly accuse Iran of involvement in the attack. On Sunday, its Foreign Ministry urged international action to preserve the world oil supply in response to the attack, but it said nothing about assigning blame or striking back.
The developments come at a moment of rising tensions between Iran and the United States, which have mounted since President Trump pulled out of the 2015 accord in which Iran agreed with the West to restrict its nuclear program....