Pompeo: Saturday Attack on Giant Saudi Refinery ‘Act of War’

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called a Saturday attack on Saudi Arabia that crippled the world’s largest oil refinery an “act of war.” He made the remark late on Wednesday while traveling to Jeddah, where he met in the evening with Saudi Crown Price Mohammad bin Sultan. A few hours earlier, Saudi Arabia showed off what it said were the remnants of weapons that proved Iran was behind the aerial strike. “The attack was launched from the north and [was] unquestionably sponsored by Iran,” Col. Turki al-Malkihe, spokesman for the Saudi Defense Ministry, told reporters in Riyadh. On display were what appeared to be delta-winged drones and parts of cruise missiles, all heavily damaged. The Saudi claim contradicts a statement issued by Iran-backed Houthi rebels who said they had been behind the attack, having launched 10 drones from territory they hold in Yemen, which lies to Saudi Arabia’s south. Washington loudly agrees with the assessments from Riyadh. Also on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump tweeted that he had ordered even stiffer sanctions to be imposed on Iran, although it was not clear whether this had to do with the attack on the refinery.