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UK Says Iran Responsible for Attack on Saudi Oil Facilities
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
September 23, 2019

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NEW YORK โ€” Britain has concluded that Iran was responsible for attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday. He said the U.K. would consider taking part in a U.S.-led military effort to bolster the Gulf kingdomโ€™s defenses, while Iranโ€™s president announced plans for a rival Iranian-led security coalition.
The U.K. Conservative prime minister also said the he would work with allies to โ€œde-escalateโ€ Middle East tensions that have soared since the Sept. 14 attack on the worldโ€™s largest oil processor and an oil field.

โ€œWe will be working with our American friends and our European friends to construct a response that tries to de-escalate tensions in the Gulf region.โ€ โ€” Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Britain had previously held back from attributing blame for the drone and missile attack. Saudi Arabia and the United States say Iran was responsible, something Tehran denies.
Johnson told reporters flying with him late Sunday to New York for the U.N. General Assembly that now โ€œthe U.K. is attributing responsibility with a very high degree of probability to Iranโ€ for the attack by drones and cruise missiles.
โ€œWe will be working with our American friends and our European friends to construct a response that tries to de-escalate tensions in the Gulf region,โ€ Johnson said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi later criticized Johnsonโ€™s comments and said Britain should stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia amid its war in Yemen, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.
Shortly before leaving for the U.N. meetings Monday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that his country will invite โ€œall littoral states of the Persian Gulfโ€ to join an Iranian-led coalition โ€œto guarantee the regionโ€™s security.โ€
His remarks were broadcast on state television.
Rouhani said the plan โ€” details of which he will present at the United Nations โ€” is not limited to โ€œsecurityโ€ but also encompasses economic cooperation and an initiative for โ€œlong-termโ€ peace.

Johnson Stressed the Need for a Diplomatic Response

Iranโ€™s president had already called on Western powers Sunday to leave the security of the Persian Gulf to regional nations led by Tehran.
Johnson said he would meet Rouhani at this weekโ€™s high-level U.N. gathering. Johnson is also due to hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. He said he wanted Britain to be โ€œa bridge between our European friends and the Americans when it comes to the crisis in the Gulf.โ€
The U.S. and Europe have diverged sharply on how to deal with Iran. European nations, including Britain, still adhere to an international deal designed to limit Iranโ€™s nuclear ambitions, but Trump has pulled the U.S. out of the agreement.
Johnson stressed the need for a diplomatic response to the Gulf tensions, but said Britain would consider any request for military help. The Trump administration announced Friday that it would send additional U.S. troops and missile defense equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as part of a โ€œdefensiveโ€ deployment. Officials said the number of troops was likely to be in the hundreds.
โ€œWe will be following that very closely,โ€ Johnson said. โ€œAnd clearly if we are asked, either by the Saudis or by the Americans, to have a role, then we will consider in what way we could be useful. We will consider in what way we could be useful, if asked, depending on what the exact plan is.โ€
A U.K. official told The Associated Press that a claim of responsibility for the attacks by Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen was โ€œimplausible.โ€ He said remnants of Iran-made cruise missiles were found at the attack site, and โ€œthe sophistication points very, very firmly to Iranian involvement.โ€ He spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence findings.
The official did not say whether Britain believed the attack was launched from Iranian soil.
Iran denies responsibility and has warned any retaliatory attack targeting it will result in an โ€œall-out war.โ€

Photo of President Hassan Rouhani
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani reviews an honor guard at the Mehrabad airport while leaving Tehran, Iran, for New York to attend United Nations General Assembly, Monday, Sept. 23, 2019. Rouhani, before traveling to attend the U.N. meetings, said Monday that Iran will invite โ€œall littoral states of the Persian Gulfโ€ to join its coalition โ€œto guarantee the regionโ€™s security.โ€ (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

Rouhani Referred to a New Round of U.S. Sanctions on Iranโ€™s Central Bank

On Monday, Rouhani said the U.S. was exaggerating the scale of damage wrought by the attacks on Saudi Arabiaโ€™s oil company and using it as an excuse to send more troops and equipment to the kingdom.
โ€œIt is clear that they would like to completely take hold of eastern Saudi Arabiaโ€™s oil,โ€ he said.

โ€œIt is clear that they would like to completely take hold of eastern Saudi Arabiaโ€™s oil.โ€ โ€” President Hassan Rouhani
Rouhani also referred to a new round of U.S. sanctions on Iranโ€™s central bank and other financial bodies as a โ€œrepeat cassette tape.โ€
Many of the sanctions had applied before Tehranโ€™s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers promised to lift them, in exchange for curbing the countryโ€™s atomic program.
โ€œThis means the U.S. is completely desperate,โ€ he said, suggesting the U.S. had little leverage left over Iran.
Meanwhile Monday, Iranโ€™s government spokesman Ali Rabiei said legal proceedings against a British-flagged oil tanker held by Tehran since July have concluded, though he doesnโ€™t know when the vessel will leave.
However, the Stena Impero has not turned on its satellite-tracking beacon in 58 days nor has there been any sign that it has left its position off the Iranian coast near the port city of Bandar Abbas. Stena Bulk, the shipโ€™s Swedish owners, also has not said anything about the shipโ€™s departure.
Iranโ€™s Revolutionary Guard seized the Stena Impero in July after authorities in Gibraltar seized an Iranian crude oil tanker. That ship has since left Gibraltar, leading to hopes the Stena Impero would be released.
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