Trump: Iran Likely Orchestrated Attacks on Saudi Oil Infrastructure

US President Donald Trump said that Iran was likely behind Saturday’s coordinated attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, but qualified that military retaliation was not yet a serious option. “It’s certainly looking that way at this moment,” Trump said of Tehran’s alleged involvement, adding, “we’ll let you know as soon as we find out definitively.” President Trump’s comments came a day after he said that Washington was “locked and loaded” to respond to the attacks. Meanwhile, US media, citing senior officials, reported that the assault was launched from Iranian soil and included the use of cruise missiles in addition to numerous drones. The attacks targeted two sites, including the world’s largest petroleum processing facility, and cut Saudi oil production by some 5.7 million barrels per day, or about 50 percent of the kingdom’s total output. Overall, the incident reduced global supply by 5% and earlier this week caused oil prices to surge more than 15%. Based on initial findings, the Saudi-led military coalition that for four-and-a-half years has been fighting Tehran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen reached a similar conclusion. “The preliminary results show that the weapons are Iranian and we are currently working to determine the location [of their origin]…. The terrorist attack did not originate from Yemen as the Houthi militia claimed,” a spokesman said.