Several administration officials said Sunday that they had substantial evidence that Iran was behind the attack, not the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen who claimed responsibility. On Saturday, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said unequivocally in a tweet that Iran was to blame.
(Sept 16): President Donald Trump said the US is “locked and loaded depending on verification” that Iran staged the attack on major Saudi Arabian oil facilities, an assertion already made by his secretary of state and backed by administration officials.
“There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification,” Trump said on Twitter on Sunday without mentioning Iran or specifying what the response would entail. He said he’s awaiting word from Saudi Arabia about who it believed caused the attack and “under what terms we would proceed!”
