President Donald Trump said on Monday it looked like Iran was behind attacks on oil plants in Saudi Arabia but stressed he did not want to go to war, according to reports, as the world watches how the Kingdom and its allies may respond to Saturday’s strikes.
“It’s certainly looking that way at this moment,” Trump said at the White House, referring to allegations that Iran was behind the attacks. But, he added, “I’m somebody that would like not to have war,” Reuters reports.
“We have a lot of options but I’m not looking at options right now. We want to find definitively who did this,” he said.
This morning, CNN reported there was a “high probability” that the attack was launched from an Iranian base near the Iraqi border using “low altitude cruise missiles,” citing a source familiar with the investigation.
Via CNN: “The attack involved cruise missiles — along with drones — flying at low altitude, the source said, and their trajectory was from the north of the Abqaiq oil plant, which was struck by more than a dozen projectiles in the early hours of Saturday morning…The missiles, according to the investigators’ current assessment, flew over southern Iraq and through Kuwaiti airspace before reaching their targets. Kuwait on Monday announced it had launched an investigation into reports of sightings of drones or missiles shortly before the Saudi targets were hit.”
The attacks are being condemned by leaders around the world.
Smoke billows from Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia after drone strikes set fire to the major oil facilities. Captured by a Planet Dove satellite today, September 14, 2019. pic.twitter.com/ioEYKFPHHo
— Planet (@planetlabs) September 14, 2019
In Washington, Pentagon officials on Monday recommended a restrained response to the attacks, “arguing against a potentially costly conflict with Iran,” according to the Washington Post. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper says he has spoken with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Iraq’s minister of defense about the attacks.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman called for an international response to what he described as “cowardly attacks.”
Meanwhile, as the Kingdom works to restore output at the attacked facilities, Saudi Arabia’s new Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman will address the media today in a highly anticipated press conference.
