Dubai: Iran’s foreign minister warned Thursday that any attack on his country over a drone-and-missile strike on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry will result in “all-out war,” further pushing up tensions across the Persian Gulf.
The comments by Mohammad Javad Zarif represent the starkest warning offered yet by Iran in a long summer of mysterious attacks and incidents following the collapse of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, over a year after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord.
Zarif’s comments also appeared to be in response to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who a day earlier while travelling to Saudi Arabia referred to the attack as an “act of war.”
Asked by CNN what would be the consequence of a US or Saudi strike, Zarif said: “All-out war.”
“We won’t blink to defend our territory,” he said.
Pompeo wrote a tweet early Thursday after his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jiddah over Saturday’s drone and cruise missile attack on a crucial oil processing facility and oil field.
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed the attack, but the US alleges Iran carried out the assault. Pompeo called the attacks “unprecedented.”
President Donald Trump has been noncommittal on whether he would order US military retaliation.
He separately said on Wednesday that he is moving to increase financial sanctions on Tehran over the attack, without elaborating. Iran already is subject to a crushing American sanctions program targeting its crucial oil industry.
The state-run WAM news agency quoted Salem al-Zaabi of the Emirati Foreign Ministry as saying the UAE joined the coalition to “ensure global energy security and the continued flow of energy supplies to the global economy.”
Saudi Arabia joined the coalition on Wednesday. Australia, Bahrain and the United Kingdom also are taking part. (PTI)
