Iran Attacks Saudi Oil Plants with Drones, Cruise Missiles

Stand for Israel | September 16, 2019

TOPSHOT-SAUDI-YEMEN-CONFLICT-OIL — TOPSHOT - A picture taken on September 15, 2019 shows an Aramco oil facility near al-Khurj area, just south of the Saudi capital Riyadh. - Saudi Arabia raced today to restart operations at oil plants hit by drone attacks which slashed its production by half, as Iran dismissed US claims it was behind the assault. The Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is bogged down in a five-year war, have claimed thi weekend's strikes on two plants owned by state giant Aramco in eastern Saudi Arabia. (Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE / AFP) (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images)

Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia’s vast oil production was cut in half after an attack that the U.S. has blamed on Iran. Israel Hayom reports that Iran launched a dozen cruise missiles and 20 drones in the attack that prompted America to respond that it is “locked and loaded”:

Iran launched a dozen cruise missiles and around 20 drones in the air attacks targeting two key Saudi oil facilities over the weekend, ABC News reported on Sunday night, citing an unnamed senior official within the Trump administration.
While the attack was claimed by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, ABC cited its source as saying that “the Houthis are claiming credit for something they did not do.”
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, was reportedly fully aware that Iran was the culprit and assured his Twitter followers that “we are … locked and loaded” depending on verification and were waiting to hear from the Saudis as to who they believe was behind the attack and “under what terms we would proceed!”
The US released new evidence to back up its allegation that Iran was responsible for the assault, which cut into global energy supplies and halved the kingdom’s oil production, threatening to fuel a regional crisis…
Iran, meanwhile, called the US claims “maximum lies,” while a commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reiterated that its forces could strike US military bases across the Mideast with their arsenal of ballistic missiles.
The US government produced satellite photos showing what officials said were at least 19 points of impact at two Saudi energy facilities, including damage at the heart of the kingdom’s crucial Abqaiq oil processing plant at Buqayq. Officials said the photos show impacts consistent with the attack coming from the direction of Iran or Iraq, rather than from Yemen to the south…