{"id":26694,"date":"2019-09-19T07:16:54","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T06:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news1613067580\/news-sp-256\/iran-a-world\/26694-pompeo-says-iran-regime-s-oil-attack-was-act-of-war-trump-orders-new-sanctions"},"modified":"2023-01-20T20:39:51","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T19:39:51","slug":"pompeo-says-iran-regime-s-oil-attack-was-act-of-war-trump-orders-new-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-a-world\/pompeo-says-iran-regime-s-oil-attack-was-act-of-war-trump-orders-new-sanctions\/","title":{"rendered":"Pompeo Says Iran Regime’s Oil Attack Was ‘Act of War,’ Trump Orders New Sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Saudi\n

United States President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had ordered his Treasury Secretary to \u201csubstantially increase sanctions\u201d imposed on Iran’s regime, in the wake of its attack on Saudi oil facilities.<\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the attack as \u201can act of war\u201d against the world\u2019s top oil exporter and said Washington wants to build a coalition of European and Arab partners to deter the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an attack of a scale we\u2019ve just not seen before,\u201d Secretary Pompeo told reporters traveling with him before landing in the Saudi city of Jeddah for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. \u201cThe Saudis were the nation that were\u00a0attacked. It was on their soil. It was an act of war against them directly.\u201d<\/p>\n

A U.S. official told Reuters the strikes originated in southwestern Iran. Three officials said they involved cruise missiles and drones, indicating a higher degree of complexity and sophistication than initially thought.<\/p>\n

Secretary Pompeo said drone and cruise missile strikes on the two Saudi oil installations on Saturday had not come from Yemen\u2019s Iran-aligned Houthi group, which has claimed responsibility.<\/p>\n

Riyadh has said Iranian weapons were used and it is investigating the launch point.<\/p>\n

Secretary Pompeo said flight patterns suggested the attack did not come from the south, which is the direction of Yemen, and that the U.S. intelligence community has \u201chigh confidence\u201d the weapons used were not in the Houthis\u2019 arsenal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWere that true \u2014 it\u2019s not, but were that true \u2014 it doesn\u2019t change the fingerprints of the Ayatollah as having put at risk the global energy supply,\u201d he said, referring to Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also know that these are systems that the Iranians have not deployed anyplace else, that they have not deployed outside of the country, to the best of our knowledge,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen no evidence that it\u2019s come from Iraq. It could well have traveled over Kuwait, we\u2019ve not seen that either.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former U.S. Treasury official told Reuters Washington could target Iran’s regime with so-called secondary sanctions that could hamper the efforts of European allies still party to the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran that the U.S. pulled out of last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrance has been floating the 15 bln credit line and there\u2019s no way I could see the Trump administration letting that happen now,\u201d the former official said.<\/p>\n

Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi<\/a>\u00a0has described the attack on the Saudi\u2019s oil installations as a major step and a new phase in the warmongering aggressions of the religious dictatorship ruling Iran, adding that exerting power and decisiveness is\u00a0the only language the mullahs understand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Inaction only emboldens this medieval regime, whose primary victims are the Iranian people, she noted, emphasizing that the ultimate solution to rid the world of Iran\u2019s ruling religious fascism as the source of all crises in the region is a change of this illegitimate regime by the Iranian people and their organized resistance movement.<\/p>\n

As such, Mrs. Rajavi pointed out<\/a>:<\/p>\n