JEDDAH\/DUBAI (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a major increase in sanctions on Iran on Wednesday as Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of drones and missiles it said were used in a crippling attack \u201cunquestionably sponsored\u201d by Tehran. Remains of the missiles which were used to attack an Aramco oil facility, are displayed during a news conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia September 18, 2019. REUTERS\/Hamad I Mohammed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump gave no explanation in a Twitter post announcing the order, but it followed repeated U.S. assertions that the Islamic Republic was behind Saturday\u2019s attack and came hours after Saudi Arabia said the strike was a \u201ctest of global will\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase sanctions on the country of Iran!\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran again denied involvement in the Sept. 14 raids, which hit the world\u2019s biggest crude processing facility and initially knocked out half of Saudi output. Responsibility was claimed by Yemen\u2019s Iran-aligned Houthi group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an attempt to support its assertion that Iran was responsible, Saudi Arabia displayed drone and missile debris it said was undeniable evidence of Iranian aggression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A total of 25 drones and missiles were used in the attacks launched from Iran not Yemen, Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki told a news conference.\u201dThe attack was launched from the north and unquestionably sponsored by Iran,\u201d he said, adding Iranian Delta Wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were used in addition to cruise missiles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An investigation into where the attacks were launched from was still under way and the result would be announced at a later date, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Proof of Iranian responsibility, and in particular firm evidence that it was launched from Iranian territory, could pressure Riyadh and Washington into a response. Both nations, however, were stressing the need for caution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has said he does not want war and is coordinating with Gulf and European states. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saudi Arabia\u2019s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the strike was a \u201creal test of the global will\u201d to confront subversion of the international order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His envoy to London, Prince Khalid bin Bander, told the BBC the attack was \u201calmost certainly\u201d Iranian-backed: \u201cWe\u2019re trying not to react too quickly because the last thing we need is more conflict in the region.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran dismissed the allegations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey want to impose maximum … pressure on Iran through slander,\u201d Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want conflict in the region … Who started the conflict?\u201d he added, blaming Washington and its Gulf allies for the war in Yemen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yemen\u2019s Houthi movement, an ally of Iran battling a Western-backed, Saudi-led coalition for more than four years, has claimed responsibility and said it used drones to assault state oil company Aramco\u2019s sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attack exposed the vulnerability of Saudi Arabia\u2019s oil infrastructure and threw down a gauntlet to the United States, which wants to curb Tehran\u2019s influence in the region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was to meet Prince Mohammed in Jeddah on Wednesday to discuss the crisis before heading to the United Arab Emirates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.N. officials monitoring sanctions on Iran and Yemen were also heading to Saudi Arabia to investigate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
France, which is trying to salvage an international nuclear deal with Iran that Washington quit last year, said it wanted to establish the facts before reacting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.S. official told Reuters the strikes originated in southwestern Iran. Three officials said they involved cruise missiles and drones, indicating a higher degree of complexity and sophistication than initially thought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The officials did not provide evidence or explain what U.S. intelligence they were using for evaluating the attack, which cut 5% of global production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday the 5.7 million barrels per day of output lost would be fully restored by the end of the month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oil prices fell after the Saudi reassurances, having surged more than 20% at one point on Monday – the biggest intra-day jump since the 1990-91 Gulf War. [O\/R] <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saudi Arabia\u2019s finance minister told Reuters the attack had no impact on revenues and Aramco was continuing to supply markets without interruption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. efforts to bring about a U.N. Security Council response looked unlikely to succeed as Russia and China have veto powers and were expected to shield Iran. Slideshow (10 Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has offered to sell Riyadh defense systems, called for a \u201cthorough and impartial\u201d probe during a phone call with Prince Mohammed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The assault exposed gaps in Saudi air defenses despite billions spent on Western military hardware. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe attack is like Sept. 11th for Saudi Arabia, it is a game changer,\u201d said one Saudi security analyst. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
IRAN-U.S. CONFLICT <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Already frayed U.S.-Iran ties deteriorated further when Trump quit the nuclear pact and reimposed sanctions, severely hurting the Iranian economy. Iran has ruled out talks with Washington unless it returns to the pact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump said he is not looking to meet Rouhani during a U.N. event in New York this month. Rouhani and his foreign minister may not attend the General Assembly at all unless U.S. visas are issued in the coming hours, state media reported on Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington and its Gulf allies want Iran to stop supporting regional proxies, including in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite years of air strikes against them, the Houthi movement boasts drones and missiles able to reach deep into Saudi Arabia, the result of an arms race since the Western-backed coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran\u2019s clerical rulers support the Houthis, who ousted Yemen\u2019s internationally recognized government from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014. But Tehran denies it actively supports them with military and financial support. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JEDDAH\/DUBAI (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a major increase in sanctions on Iran on Wednesday as Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of drones and missiles it said were used in a crippling attack \u201cunquestionably sponsored\u201d by Tehran. Remains of the missiles which were used to attack an Aramco oil facility, are displayed during a news conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-3735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-saudi-arabia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3736,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions\/3736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}