US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will depart for Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Tuesday to “counter Iranian aggression” after an attack on Saudi oil facilities, officials said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran at the weekend, without providing any evidence, involved Tehran to accuse Washington of deceit.
The State Department said Pompeo would meet Wednesday in Jeddah with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and then visit Abu Dhabi to see His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
Pompeo will discuss “the recent attack on the kingdom’s oil facilities and coordinate efforts to counter Iranian aggression in the region,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.
The talks come after an attack in Saudi Arabia on Abqaiq, one of the world’s largest oil facilities.
“As the president said, we don’t want war with anybody but the United States is prepared,” Pence said at the Heritage Foundation.
“We’re locked and loaded and we’re ready to defend our interests and allies in the region, make no mistake about it,” he added.
A US official earlier cast doubt saying that Washington was certain that the missiles came from Iranian territory.
President Donald Trump on twitter refrained from directly accusing Iran but hinted possible military response once the perpetrator was known.
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
Iraq denied all the accusations that the attacks were projected from its territory. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the attack was carried out in self-defense by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.