The Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Monday stated that the attack on Saudi Arabian oil plants was done with Iranian weapons and was not launched from Yemen according to preliminary findings.
According to Reuters, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said that an investigation into Saturday’s strikes, which had been claimed by the Iran-aligned Houthi group, was still going on to determine the launch location.
“The preliminary results show that the weapons are Iranian and we are currently working to determine the location … The terrorist attack did not originate from Yemen as the Houthi militia claimed,” Malki told a press conference in Riyadh.
He said authorities would reveal the location from where drones were launched at a future press briefing.
The weekend strikes on Abqaiq – the world’s largest oil processing facility – and the Khurais oilfield in eastern Saudi Arabia have roiled global energy markets sending prices spiking Monday.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the strikes but Washington has squarely blamed Iran, with President Donald Trump saying the US is “locked and loaded” to respond.
Saudi’s energy infrastructure has been hit before, but this strike was of a different order, abruptly halting 5.7 million barrels per day (bpd) or about six per cent of the world’s oil supply.
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