ABQAIQ, Saudi Arabia – It’s now clear an attack in the middle of the Saudi desert is having a global effect. That raises the potential of a U.S. military strike and rising gas prices.
The fallout from this attack on the world’s biggest oil production facility is growing.
It’s still unclear who did it, but new satellite photos show multiple, pinpoint attacks amid a plume of black smoke.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Iran’s to blame, but offered no evidence.
President Trump didn’t name Iran but tweeted what appears to a threat of military action, warning: “There’s reason to believe we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but we are waiting to hear from Saudi Arabia as to who they believe was the cause of this attack and under what terms we would proceed.”
Iran denies involvement. Its foreign minister accused the U.S. of moving from “maximum pressure” to “maximum deceit.”
Iranian-backed rebels from Yemen released a propaganda video, claiming ten of their drones hit the facility.
President Trump suggested he was open to talks with Iran. “I can tell you Iran wants to meet,” he said.
The first opportunity could be in New York in just over a week when world leaders meet at the U.N.
Rising military tension means rising gas prices as the oil price surged 10% overnight. One analyst told NBC News gas at the pumps could rise 25 cents a gallon.
The president will release oil reserves if needed for the first time in eight years to keep oil flowing at home.
This was the biggest single hit ever on global oil supply. But the big question this morning is a military one: what President Trump does now, as he says, the U.S. is “locked and loaded?” And who will the Saudis blame? So far, they have neither named, nor blamed, their archenemy, Iran.
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