The Iranian leadership has rejected allegations by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the country has been involved in drone strikes on two oil rigs in Saudi Arabia. Pompeo's insinuations are absurd, inexplicable and therefore also halted and ineffective, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi.
Fires erupted in the plants of the Aramco state company in Abkaik and Churais in eastern Saudi Arabia following the attacks on early Saturday morning. At the location Abkaik is the largest oil processing plant of Aramco. In Churais is one of the main oil fields of the state-owned enterprise.
US Secretary of State Pompeo blamed Iran for the attacks. "In the midst of calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on world energy supply, and there is no evidence that the attacks came from Yemen," the Republican wrote on Twitter. Previously, the Iran-supported Houthi rebels from neighboring Yemen had explicitly made the attacks known.
We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran's attacks. Iran is held accountable for its aggression
- Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 14, 2019Mousavi vehemently criticized Pompeo's remarks. "Because the US policy of maximum pressure on Iran failed, the Americans have now switched to the maximum lies." But despite extreme hostility, the statements of politicians should have "a minimum of credibility." This is currently not the case with the Americans. Therefore, one could conclude that they are pursuing "very different goals" with their insinuations, he said.
The drone strikes on Saturday have led, according to official figures, to a drastic slump in oil production. According to Energy Minister Prince Abdulasis bin Salman bin Abdulasis, the state-run Saudi Arabian news agency SPA reported that it had shrunk to about half of its usual volume as a result of the "terrorist attacks".
Threatening words from the Revolutionary Guard
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard also commented on the US Secretary of State's allegations: "Everyone should know that all US bases and their aircraft carriers are within range of our missiles at a distance of up to 2,000 kilometers around Iran," said Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Iranian news agency Tasnim quoted Ali Hajizadeh as saying, "Iran has always been ready for a 'fully developed' war." However, he did not directly refer to the drone attacks.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is the elite unit of the armed forces in Iran and far more important than the classical army. It was founded to keep the regime in power and is directly subordinate to the country's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In April, the US had classified the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.
