President Donald Trump is waiting on “confirmation” of who is responsible for the attack on a Saudi Arabian oil field but said the United States is “locked and loaded” and ready to respond.
The president tweeted Sunday that there is “reason to believe that we know” who was behind Saturday’s strikes on key Saudi Arabian oil centers which sent oil prices escalating as about half of the oil capacity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was disrupted.
(Video: Fox News)
“There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom,” Trump said Sunday in tweets reacting to the attacks which affected more than 5 percent of the daily crude oil production of the world.
Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2019
Yemen’s rebel Houthi group claimed responsibility for drone attacks amid a backdrop of escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran which, though not directly blamed for the attack by the Trump administration, is believed to be backing the group.
Iran called accusations that it had launched the attack “maximum lies” as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted there is “no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.”
Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy. Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply. There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 14, 2019
Iran’s foreign minister issued a denial of the accusations on Twitter.
Having failed at “max pressure”, @SecPompeo‘s turning to “max deceit”
US & its clients are stuck in Yemen because of illusion that weapon superiority will lead to military victory.
Blaming Iran won’t end disaster. Accepting our April ’15 proposal to end war & begin talks may.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) September 15, 2019
“This is the handiwork of a sophisticated (most likely State) actor. The precise nature of the intelligence used to conduct targeting, the mission planning that went into this to avoid radar detection, as well as the selection of the targets shows a robust capability that would most likely be the work of a government or government-sponsored group,” Ret. Col. Cedric Leighton told CNN Sunday.
“The drones most likely originated in either Southern Iraq or Iran,” the intelligence expert added.
In response to the potential increase in oil prices, Trump indicated the markets would be kept “well-supplied” as he was authorizing the release of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Based on the attack on Saudi Arabia, which may have an impact on oil prices, I have authorized the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, if needed, in a to-be-determined amount….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2019
….sufficient to keep the markets well-supplied. I have also informed all appropriate agencies to expedite approvals of the oil pipelines currently in the permitting process in Texas and various other States.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2019
“PLENTY OF OIL!” he added in a follow-up tweet, apparently attempting to downplay any concerns.
PLENTY OF OIL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2019
Tapping in to the use of the reserves, located in Texas and Louisiana, has only occurred three times, with the most recent under the Obama administration amid unrest in Libya.
“The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the largest government-owned stockpile of emergency crude oil in the world,according to the Department of Energy which is responsible for managing the supply.
Trump has “many options on the table,” according to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway who spoke on “Fox News Sunday.”
“This president and his national security team, Secretary (of State Mike) Pompeo – our nation’s chief diplomat – keep many options on the table, particularly when it comes to retaliating against malign behavior, and protecting American interests and Americans and our American economy,” she said.
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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