FILE PHOTO: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 24, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
September 26, 2019
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged caution over blaming Iran for a Sept. 14 attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, adding that it would not be right to place the entire burden on the Islamic Republic.
The United States, European powers and Saudi Arabia have blamed the attack on Iran, instead of the Yemeni Iran-aligned Houthi group that claimed responsibility. Iran distanced itself from the attacks, but said it was ready for “full-fledged” war.
“I don’t think it would be the right thing to blame Iran,” Erdogan said in an interview with Fox News broadcast on Wednesday, adding that the attacks came from several parts of Yemen.
“If we just place the entire burden on Iran, it won’t be the right way to go. Because the evidence available does not necessarily point to that fact,” Erdogan said, according to a translation of his comments broadcast by Fox.
Saudi Arabia is in consultation “with friends and allies about the next steps to take,” its Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir told reporters on Wednesday.
The attack on the heartland of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry damaged the world’s biggest petroleum-processing facility and knocked out more than 5% of global oil supply.
(Reporting by Daren Butler; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
