Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, September 18, 2019—The Saudi Arabian Defense Ministry held a press conference on Wednesday, September 18, revealing wreckage of cruise missiles and drones used by the Iranian regime in the attack on Aramco oil facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia.
“The attack on Aramco not only targets Saudi Arabia, but it targets all of the international community. We call on the world to recognize Iran's malicious attacks. Iran tried to falsify the facts and the attack on Aramco came from the north,” Saudi Defense Ministry officials Turki al-Maliki said.
“The weapons used to target the Aramco facilities were manufactured in Iran. Precision missiles were used in this attack and it is proven that the strike did not originate in Yemen. A total of 25 drones and cruise missiles were used in this attack, including 18 drones and 7 'Ya-Ali' cruise missiles,” he continued, adding the logistics were used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
Months ago, the U.S State Department designated the IRGC as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO).
Iranian opposition President Maryam Rajavi, head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said Wednesday that Tehran’s attack is an “act of war.”
“The clerical regime’s simultaneous missile and drone attacks from inside Iran on oil installations in Saudi Arabia is an act of war,” she wrote.
The clerical regime’s simultaneous missile and drone attacks from inside #Iran on oil installations in Saudi Arabia is an act of war. #FreeIranhttps://t.co/aBFN3HndB6 pic.twitter.com/6wGXVcanaS
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) September 18, 2019
“The mullahs only understand the language of strength and firmness. Inaction vis-à-vis their religious fascist regime only emboldens them. The people of Iran are the first victims of this regime. The decisive solution to rid the Middle East of all its crises caused by the religious fascism in Iran is the change of the illegitimate regime by the Iranian people and their organized Resistance,” Mrs. Rajavi added.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday where he emphasized the attack on Saudi Arabia – describing it as “an act of war” – was not carried out by the Houthis, but it was an Iranian attack. The intelligence community is highly confident these were not weapons possessed by the Houthis, he added. “This is an attack of a scale we’ve just not seen before. No evidence Iraq is the source of the attack," Pompeo continued.
The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson separately condemned the attack on Saudi oil facilities.
In further developments, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a significant increase in sanctions on the Iranian regime in the latest U.S. move to pressure the mullahs. U.S. officials have repeatedly said Tehran carried out the weekend attack on Saudi oil facilities.
“I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase sanctions on the country of Iran!,” he wrote.
I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2019
Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Wednesday that President Trump should go to the UN to “make the case that Iran’s behavior is an act of war against Saudi Arabia and must be dealt with firmly.”
U.N. officials monitoring sanctions on Iran and Yemen were also heading to Saudi Arabia to investigate.
A U.S. official told Reuters the strikes originated in southwestern Iran. Three officials said they involved cruise missiles and drones. The U.S. is also pushing efforts to discuss the IRGC’s use of drones and cruise missiles at the United Nations Security Council.
In ridiculous remarks from the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, the spokesman of this militia group claimed on Wednesday that U.S. satellite images providing the Aramco attack was launched from the north and not Yemen were “fabricated.”
In other news, President Trump on Wednesday selected Robert C. O’Brien, the State Department’s chief hostage negotiator, as his national security adviser.
“I am pleased to announce that I will name Robert C. O’Brien, currently serving as the very successful Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department, as our new National Security Adviser,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “I have worked long & hard with Robert. He will do a great job!”
I am pleased to announce that I will name Robert C. O’Brien, currently serving as the very successful Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department, as our new National Security Advisor. I have worked long & hard with Robert. He will do a great job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2019
O’Brien has written regularly on foreign policy and collected a series of essays into a book, “While America Slept,” published in 2016. He strongly argued against “appeasement and retreat” as he criticized former U.S. President Barack Obama for a weak foreign policy. He compared Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with Iran to the Munich Agreement that emboldened Adolf Hitler in 1938.
O’Brien served with Mr. John Bolton when he was President George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations and has advised Republican candidates like Mitt Romney, Scott Walker and Ted Cruz.
