US weighing best response to Saudi oil attacks: Pence

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday the United States was reviewing evidence that suggests Iran was behind the attacks on Saudi oil facilities and stands ready to defend its interests and allies in the Middle East.

“We’re evaluating all the evidence. We’re consulting with our allies. And the president will determine the best course of action in the days ahead,” Pence said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was traveling to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss the response to the attacks, Pence said. “The United States of America will take whatever action is necessary to defend our country, our troops, and our allies in the Gulf. You can count on it,” Pence said.

If Iran conducted Saturday’s attacks to pressure Trump to lighten sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran over its nuclear program, that strategy will fail, Pence said. Iran has denied being behind Saturday’s attacks, which knocked out half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production. The Houthi group, an ally of Tehran which is fighting a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, says it conducted the strikes with drones which were powered by both normal and jet engines.

Britain and Germany on Tuesday urged the international community to forge a “collective response” to the drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations, which US officials have blamed on Iran. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the attacks during a telephone call, agreeing on “the need to work together, alongside international partners, to agree a collective response,” according to Downing Street.

Kuwait’s foreign minister called on the country’s armed forces to be on high alert and prepared to confront any incident that may destabilize the country’s security, state news agency KUNA reported on Tuesday.

Kuwait stands behind Saudi Arabia following Saturday’s attacks on Aramco oil facilities, the foreign minister added. The United States has concluded that the weekend attack on Saudi oil facilities was launched from Iranian soil and cruise missiles were involved, a US official told AFP on Tuesday. The official, who declined to be identified, said the United States was gathering evidence about the attack to present to the international community, notably European allies, at the UN General Assembly next week. Asked if Washington was certain that the missiles had been launched from Iranian soil, the official answered: “Yes. US intelligence services have the capability of determining where the missiles were launched from, the official said, declining, however, to say how many were fired. “I will not get into that kind of details,” the official said.