UK, Germany agree on need for global response
US intel indicates oil attacks staged from Iran
London/Washington - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday they needed to work with international partners to form a collective response to Saturday’s attacks on Saudi oil plants, his spokesman said.
The two leaders also agreed there was a need to de-escalate tensions in the region and were committed to a common approach on Iran, which has been blamed by US President Donald Trump for the attack on Saudi oil facilities.
American officials have shared intelligence with Riyadh indicating that Iran was the staging ground for devastating drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The weekend strikes on Abqaiq - the world’s largest processing plant - and the Khurais oilfield have knocked out 5.7 million barrels per day (bpd), or six percent of global production, sending prices soaring.
While Washington has blamed Tehran, the Monday assessment on the origin of the attacks has not been shared publicly, the Journal said.
The US assessment determined that “Iran launched more than 20 drones and at least a dozen missiles,” according to unnamed sources.
“But Saudi officials said the US didn’t provide enough to conclude that the attack was launched from Iran, indicating the US information wasn’t definitive,” the WSJ added.
“US officials said they planned to share more information with the Saudis in the coming days.”
President Donald Trump has said that the United States is ready to help Saudi Arabia, but will wait for a “definitive” determination on who was responsible.
“I’m not looking to get into new conflict, but sometimes you have to,” he said. “That was a very large attack, and it could be met by an attack many, many times larger.”
“Certainly, it would look to most like it was Iran.”