Iran warns US of response to any action over Saudi attack, says won’t attend UN meet

Relations between US and Iran have deteriorated since President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear accord last year and reimposed sanctions on its oil exports.

Attack on Saudi oil facility

The Houthi rebels of Yemen claimed responsibility for the drone attacks on the crude-processing facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais, which is touted as the world’s largest oil processing facility and a major oil field in Saudi Arabia.

Saturday’s attack resulted in major oil supply disruption and there was a massive surge in oil shares over the next 48 hours after the attack.

A top Saudi source, as per Reuters, claimed that the production could be fully restored within two to three weeks and that the kingdom was close to restoring 70 per cent of the 5.7 million barrels that were lost in the attacks.

Aftermath of attack

Denouncing the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron said that his country will send its experts to help investigate the drone attacks on the oil facilities.

The Fench president’s office said on Tuesday that the European nation will continue to make diplomatic efforts in the Persian Gulf to reduce tensions between the countries.

Meanwhile, after the attack, the US formed a coalition to secure the waterways in the middle east region to prevent further attacks on the oil industry.

In a statement, the kingdom announced that it had joined the International Maritime Security Construct, a mission already joined by Australia, Bahrain and the United Kingdom.

Defiant Iran

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claimed that the kingdom should view the attack on its oil facilities as a warning to end its war on Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition has been battling Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels since March 2015.

The comments were made at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday in Tehran. Though Rouhani made no mention of the allegations levelled against Iran for its purported role in the drone attack on the oil fields.

US-Iran meet

The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who were scheduled to attend the United Nations General Assembly, announced that no US visas were issued for them, The Associated Press said in a report quoting Iran’s state-run media.

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