The Trump administration Monday stepped up its claim that Iran is behind the devastating recent drone attacks on key oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and claimed that dismissing Tehran’s part in the strike “undermines international security.”
In a speech on the sidelines of this week’s U.N. General Assembly gathering in New York, the State Department’s point man on Iran, Brian Hook, said that last week’s attacks “were more complex, larger in scale, and more precise than anything the [Iranian-backed Houthi rebels] are capable of executing.”
The administration has announced another round of economic sanctions on Iran in response to the attack that rocked the global oil industry. Iran has denied it is responsible for the attack, and Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen claim they carried out the strikes in retaliation for a Saudi-led military campaign against them.
But the Trump administration’s case against Teheran received a major boost when the leaders of Britain, France and Germany — all of whom still support the 2015 nuclear deal repudiated by Mr. Trump last year — said in New York they agreed with the U.S. that Iran was behind the attacks.
In a joint statement Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that it was “clear to us that Iran bears responsibility for this attack. There is no other plausible explanation.”
Mr. Hook said the Saudi attack was proof that the U.S. policy of “maximum pressure” was having a clear impact on Iran, which he said was lashing out as its economic woes deepen.
“Our pressure is making the regime’s extremist foreign policy and the ideology that drives it more expensive than ever before,” Mr. Hook said. “This was long overdue.”
Mr. Hook, who was speaking at the Asia Society in New York, declared that “accepting the Iranian version of events undermines international security and conveniently demands nothing of nations in response.”
Mr. Hook’s comments come just days after the Defense Department announced it is deploying a small contingent of troops to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to as a defensive measure against future attacks. Mr. Trump has been under fire from some conservative critics on Capitol Hill to make a more forceful response, including a military strike against Iranian targets.
But in a Friday evening press conference, Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph F. Dunford said the deployment will involve fewer than 100 American troops and will primarily be focused on air and missile defense.
The announcement was met with criticism from several Democratic lawmakers. Sen. Edward Markey, Massachusetts Democrat, on Monday said the deployment is “risking unnecessary conflict.”
“We are in this situation because President Trump believes America must defend Saudi oil interests, inviting escalation and putting American servicemembers in harm’s way,” he said in a statement.
Upon his arrival for this week’s U.N. General Assembly meetings Monday afternoon, President Trump kept the door open to a potential meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, although he has previously rejected the idea.
But Iranian officials have been adamant such a meeting could not happen so long as harsh U.S. sanctions remain on their economy and the Trump administration refuses to honor the 2015 deal.
Mr. Rouhani is set to address the U.N. gathering in New York on Wednesday, when officials in Teheran say he will detail a proposed “Hormuz Peace Plan,” designed to de-escalate tensions in the Persian Gulf.
While the European leaders placed the blame for the Sept. 8 Saudi strike on Iran, they also urged Iran to enter into talks on a new deal, and said President Trump should be open to a new overture for talks.
“There’s one guy who can do a better deal,” Mr. Johnson told reporters. “And that is the president of the United States. I hope there will be a Trump deal.”
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.
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