UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Tuesday that the United Nations is "unable to independently corroborate" whether drones used in the September attack on Saudi oil facilities "are of Iranian origin", Reuters reported.
On 14 September, two combat drones attacked two major state-owned oil processing facilities run by Saudi Aramco in Abqaiq and Khurais, suspending the production of some 5.7 million barrels of oil per day.
Although the Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the strikes, Washington and Riyadh blamed them on Tehran.
Following the airstrikes, the US issued deploying additional forces and military equipment to Saudi Arabia to "help restore deterrence against Iranian aggression", as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote on his Twitter earlier in October.
Yesterday, #USAF forward deployed these four B-1B heavy bombers from #Ellsworth AFB to Prince Sultan AB in #SaudiArabia. They together with four #USAF F-22As & three #USNavy EA-18Gs are responsible to protect #Saudi oil facilities & confront #IRGC in #Iraq whenever is necessary pic.twitter.com/X552f7SFoL
— Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) October 26, 2019
The United States has repeatedly claimed that Tehran is pursuing "aggressive policies" destabilising the Middle East region. It has also called on other states to strengthen sanctions on Iran.
The Iranian regime must fundamentally change its behavior and act like a normal nation. Or it can watch its economy collapse.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) October 11, 2019
