As world leaders gather for their annual UN General Assembly session, Britain, France, and Germany joined the United States on Monday in blaming Iran for the Sept. 14 attacks on key oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, Fox News reported.
The leaders of the UK, France, and Germany, which unlike the U.S. remain parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, said in a statement that “there is no other plausible explanation” than that “Iran bears responsibility for this attack.”
“We, the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, recall our shared common security interests, in particular upholding the global non-proliferation regime and preserving stability in the Middle East,” the joint statement began.
It concluded: “We are committed to continuing our diplomatic efforts to create conditions and facilitate dialogue with all relevant partners interested in de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East, in the interest of preserving international peace and security. … We urge Iran to engage in such a dialogue and refrain from further provocation and escalation.”
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, denied any part in the attacks. He said Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who claimed responsibility, “have every reason to retaliate” for the Saudi-led coalition’s aerial attacks on their country.
He also stressed that on the eve of President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to the United Nations, in the middle of New York City, “it would be stupid for Iran to engage in such activity.” Zarif, however, ruled out any Iran-U.S. meeting. He said Iran had received no request from the U.S., “and we have made clear that a request alone will not do the job.”
Zarif said Trump “closed the door to negotiations” with the latest U.S. sanctions, which labeled the country’s central bank a “global terrorist” institution — a designation the Iranian minister said the U.S. president and his successors may not be able to change.
“I know that President Trump did not want to do that. I know he must have been misinformed,” said Zarif, meeting with U.N. correspondents Monday. Zarif said he plans to meet Wednesday with ministers of the five countries remaining in the 2015 nuclear deal from which Trump withdrew – Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.
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