Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday called the airstrikes on Saudi oil facilities “an act of war” and said it was an “Iranian attack” on the world’s energy supply.
“This is an attack of a scale we’ve just not seen before,” Pompeo told reporters in the Saudi city of Jeddah, where he is expected to meet with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
“The Saudis were the nation that were attacked. It was on their soil. It was an act of war against them directly.”
The US’ top diplomat said that the flight patterns of the drones and cruise missiles used in the Saturday attack suggest they didn’t come from the south, where Iranian-backed Houthi insurgents are fighting Saudi coalition forces in Yemen.
The group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Pompeo said US intelligence has “high confidence” that the weapons used in the strikes on an oil field and refinery were not part of the Houthis’ arsenal and have not been previously deployed by the rebel group.
”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,” he said, referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“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 continued.