Pompeo blames Iran for attack on Saudi refineries and asks other countries to publicly condemn it | Univision Mundo News

Hours later, Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, blamed Iran for the facts and called it an unprecedented attack. Through his official Twitter user he said: "Tehran is behind almost 100 attacks against Saudi Arabia, while Rouhani (Hassan, president of Iran ) and Zarif (Mohammad Javad the chancellor) pretend to participate in diplomacy. Amid all calls for scale reduction, Iran has launched an unprecedented attack against the world's energy supply. There is no evidence that the attacks came from Yemen. "

He also called for action from other countries: "We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn the attacks of Iran. The United States will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and that Iran is responsible for their aggression. "

It was not clear if anyone was injured at the Abqaiq oil processing facility or at the Khurais oil field, nor what effect these attacks will have on oil production. The satellite images show columns of smoke from the fires produced in those places by the attacks.

The attack of Houthis backed by Iran in the war against a coalition led by Saudi Arabia occurs after weeks of similar drone attacks in the oil infrastructure of the Saudi kingdom, but none of the previous attacks seemed to have caused damage of this magnitude.

The first news about the attacks came through online videos showing gigantic fires at Abqaiq facilities, about 205 miles (330 kilometers) northeast of Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

In some videos gunshots are heard while the first call to prayers of the day was produced, suggesting that security forces tried to take down the drones just before dawn.

Already in the early hours of this Saturday, Saudi state television aired a segment with its local correspondent near a police checkpoint, with a thick column of smoke visible behind it.

The fires began after the sites were "drones targets," the Interior Ministry said in a statement issued by the Saudi state press agency, which said an investigation was under way.

Saudi Aramco, the state oil giant, did not respond to questions from the Associated Press about the incident. The kingdom soon hopes to offer a portion of the company in an initial public offering.

In a brief speech broadcast by the Houthi Al-Masirah satellite news channel, military spokesman Yahia Sarie said that the rebels launched 10 drones in their coordinated attack after receiving "intelligence" support of those within the kingdom. The Houthi spokesman warned that the rebel attacks will only get worse if the war in Yemen continues.

"The only option for the Saudi government is to stop attacking us," Sarie said.

The rebels have taken the capital of Yemen, Sanaa, and other territories in the poorest country in the Arab world. Since 2015, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia has struggled to restore the internationally recognized Yemeni government.

The US embassy in Riyadh said he was not aware of any injuries among Americans. Saudi Aramco employs several US citizens, some of whom live in guarded residential complexes near the oil site.

"These attacks on critical infrastructure endanger civilians, are unacceptable and will sooner or later cause the loss of innocent lives," said US Ambassador John Abizaid, a former army general.

Saudi Aramco describes its Abqaiq oil processing facility in Buqyaq as "the world's largest crude oil stabilization plant."

The facility processes sour crude oil to sweet crude oil, then transports it to transshipment points in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea or to refineries for local production. Estimates suggest that can process up to seven million barrels of crude oil per day. Compared, Saudi Arabia produced 9.65 million barrels of crude oil per day in July.

The plant has already been the target of sabotage in the past. Al-Qaeda said suicide bombers tried but failed to attack the oil complex in February 2006.

On the other hand, it is believed that Khurais oil field produces more than one million barrels of crude oil per day and according to Aramco, it has estimated reserves of more than 20,000 million barrels.

There was no immediate impact on world oil prices as the markets closed over the weekend.

While Saudi Arabia has taken steps to protect and protect its oil infrastructure, analysts warned that Abqaiq remains vulnerable. The Rapidan Energy Group, a Washington-based advisory group, warned in May that "a successful attack could lead to a disruption of most Saudi production and almost all replacement production for a month." They qualified Abqaiq , next to the city of Damman, as “The most important oil facility in the world”.

Since the beginning of the war led by Saudi Arabia, Houthi rebels have been using drones in combat. The former seemed to be amateur drones, hobby kit style. Later, versions almost identical to Iranian models began to appear. Iran denies the supply of weapons to the Houthis, although the United Nations, the West and the Arab nations of the Gulf say Tehran has armed that insurgent group.