President Donald Trump participates in a presentation ceremony of the Medal of Valor and heroic commendations to civilians and police officers who responded to mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., September 9, 2019.
Erin Scott | Reuters
President Donald Trump said Monday he’s in no rush to respond to a coordinated attack that hit Saudi Arabia’s oil industry over the weekend.
The largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq and the nearby oil field was attacked on Saturday, knocking out 5.7 million barrels of daily crude production or more than 50% of the kingdom’s oil output. The disruption sent Brent oil prices soaring, posting its biggest jump on record.
“It’s certainly looking that way at this point,” Trump responds to a question whether Iran was responsible for the attacks. “I don’t want war with anybody but we are prepared more than anybody … We have a lot of options but we are not looking at options right now.”
“That was a very large attack and it could be met with an attack many, many times larger very easily by our country, but we are going to find out who definitively did it first,” he added.
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said Monday the attacks on Aramco were a “reciprocal response” to the aggression against Yemen.
A Saudi-led military coalition said the attack was carried out by “Iranian weapons” and did not originate from Yemen.
The most recent comment from Trump contrasts his attitude expressed on Sunday when he said in a tweet the U.S. is “locked and loaded” after the attacks on Saudi’s oil supply.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
