Donald Trump Tweets That The U.S. Is ‘Locked And Loaded’ After Drone Attack On Saudi Oil Infrastructure
On the heels of a drone attack on an oil refinery infrastructure in Saudi Arabia that crippled approximately 5 percent of the global oil supply, President Donald Trump announced that the United States is “locked and loaded” as the world waits to hear confirmation on who was responsible for the strikes.
According to The Hill, on Sunday, the president suggested that the U.S. was prepared to retaliate against the still-unknown aggressor on the Saudi oil supply, assuming the oil-rich country wants the U.S. to take action.
“Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked,” the president tweeted. “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!”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested that Iran was behind the attacks, but originally the attacks were claimed by Houthi rebels in Yemen, who were entangled in battle with Saudi-backed military forces.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, responded to Pompeo’s allegations in a Sunday tweet, mocking the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy.
“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,” Zarif tweeted.
CNN reported that 19 targets were attacked in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, and given the angle of attack, the number of points of impact, and other factors, a U.S. official reportedly pointed to Iran as the likely culprit. On top of that, the same official suggested that such an attack couldn’t be carried out with 10 drones, which is the number of drones the Houthi rebels claimed to have used.
Several military experts also analyzed satellite footage of the attacks for CNN, with at least one of them — an expert in imagery — agreeing with the Trump administration’s theory of Iran as the culprit. The other two experts wouldn’t say for sure that Iran was behind the attack, but both delivered similar analysis that the attacks were highly sophisticated and “pin-prick” accurate.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Trump, on Sunday, announced approval of tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is the largest stash of crude oil in the U.S. and stored along the Gulf Coast. The decision came in the wake of potential market disruptions caused by the attacks in Saudi Arabia.
