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Trump does not want a war - and speaks of a "much, much bigger attack"

2019-09-16T21:58:32.021Z


Donald Trump had already announced a retaliatory strike in case the culprits were found attacking oil installations in Saudi Arabia. Now he wants to avoid a conflict.



After the attacks on two oil rigs in Saudi Arabia, US President Donald Trump does not seem to be out for a military conflict with Iran. He would "certainly want to avoid such a conflict," Trump said Monday in the White House: "I do not want to go to war with anyone." But the United States is prepared for a conflict. "It was a very big attack, and it could very easily be returned from our country with a much, much bigger attack."

On Saturday morning, several explosions had shaken assets of Saudi Aramco. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen were known for the attacks.

According to Trump, there are many indications of Iran as the author of the attacks. "It looks like it," he said, adding that investigations continued, "We definitely need to find out who did it." Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo blamed Iran for the attacks. Trump was not so clear.

The President had previously been informed by Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on the state of the findings on the attacks, as the Pentagon chief announced. After the meeting with Trump, Esper tweeted that the US was ready to "defend" the international order. This would be "undermined" by Iran. According to the Pentagon chief, US government and military consultations with international partners are running in response to the "unprecedented" attacks.

The United States military, with our interagency team, is working with our partners to address this unprecedented attack and defend the international rules-based order that is being undermined by Iran.

- Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper (@ EsperDoD) September 16, 2019

After the weekend's attacks, Trump had promised the US allies in the region. In addition, he had threatened a retaliatory strike on Sunday. On Monday, he expressed his willingness to "help" Saudi Arabia after the attacks.

Saudi Arabia invites to international investigation

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, announced its intention to invite the United Nations and international experts to join in the investigation into the attacks. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh declared - as had previously been a Saudi military spokesman - Iranian weapons were used during the bombing on Saturday. The target of the attacks was primarily the international energy supply. The Saudi oil company Aramco had to stop about half of its production.

The spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition, which is deployed in Yemen's civil war, had previously said that Iranian drones had been used in the attacks. However, they were not started from Yemeni soil.

Experts are trying to find out whether drones or cruise missiles were actually used to attack the oil rigs and who could have fired them. Read an analysis here.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2019-09-16

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