Pompeo describes attack on Saudi oil facilities as "act of war"

WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (KUNA) -- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the strike on Saudi oil facilities as an "act of war." Upon arrival at the Saudi city of Jeddah, Pompeo told reporters that it was an "Iranian attack".
"We were blessed that there were no Americans killed in this attack but any time you have an act of war of this nature, there's always risk that that could happen," he said.
"This is an attack of a scale we've just not seen before," he added.
"This was an Iranian attack. It's not the case that you can subcontract out the devastation of 5 percent of the world's global energy supply and think that you can absolve yourself from responsibility," he said. "Were it the case that the Houthis' fraudulent claim was accurate, were that true - it's not, but were that true, it doesn't change the fingerprints of the Ayatollah as having put at risk the global energy supply." Pompeo said the intelligence community has high confidence that the Houthis did not possess weapons systems like the ones used in the attacks.
He added that they believe the attacks originated in Iran, not in Iraq.
So the intelligence community has high confidence that these were not weapons that would have been in the possession of the Houthis, he stated.
"We also know that these are systems that the Iranians have not deployed anyplace else, that they have not deployed outside of their country to the best of our knowledge." "We've not seen them deploy these types of UAV systems with the kinds of ranges and capabilities nor have we seen them place these missiles where they could have done it." "We've seen no evidence that it came from Iraq," Pompeo said. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump told reporters in Los Angeles that he would add new sanctions on Iran, adding they would be announced within the next two days. There are several options, he said, adding that "we are in a very strong situation".
Saudi authorities announced that some drones targeted two facilities of Aramco last Saturday, setting fire to them. (end) rsr.amm.hm