Weapons used to attack Saudi Arabia at the Defense Ministry press conference about Iranian involvement in Saturday’s Aramco attacks. (Reuters)
Thu 19 September 2019:
The United Nations says its panel of experts on Yemen have arrived in Saudi Arabia to investigate an attack on the kingdom’s oil facilities.
U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq acknowledged their arrival in a statement to journalists Thursday.
He said the inspectors had “started their mission, undertaken at the invitation of the Saudi authorities.” He did not elaborate.
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry spokesman says it will not join a U.S.-led coalition to protect waterways across the Mideast after an attack on Saudi oil installations.
Ahmad al-Sahhaf says Gulf security is the responsibility of Gulf countries. In a statement Thursday, he said Iraq rejects Israel’s participation in the coalition.
The U.S. formed the coalition after attacks on oil tankers that American officials blame on Iran, as well as Iran’s seizure of tankers in the region. Israeli media quoted an Israeli official in August saying the country had joined the coalition, but the only publicly pledged countries recognized by the U.S. are Australia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates.
Iraq, which is allied with both Iran and the U.S., has tried to keep a neutral stance amid the tensions.
“All-out war”
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is warning that any U.S. or Saudi military strike on Iran will result in “all-out war.”
Zarif made the comment in an interview published by CNN Thursday.
It comes after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called an attack on Saudi oil installations an “act of war.”
The U.S. accuses Iran of being behind the attack. Iran denies that.
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed the attack, saying it is over the yearslong Saudi-led war there that’s killed tens of thousands of people. However, experts told The Associated Press the cruise missiles used in the assault did not have the range to have been launched from Yemen and reach their targets.
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