Saudi Arabia is now even more certain Iran was behind the oil facility strikes

Saudi Arabia.
(Image credit: Amr Nabil/AP)

Saudi Arabia is doubling down on its claims that Iran was behind last weekend's attacks on two of the kingdom's major oil production facilities.

Saudi Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said Wednesday the kingdom's investigation revealed the strikes were "unquestionably" sponsored by Iran and came from the "north." Speaking at a press conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he displayed debris from the allegedly Iranian-made weapons and played surveillance video he said showed a drone coming in from the north. If that is indeed the case, it would challenge the claims of Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who took responsibility for the strikes; Yemen, for clarity, lies to the south of Saudi Arabia.

Al-Malki also said the cruise missiles' alleged range of 435 miles is further evidence that the strikes were not launched from Yemen. Finally, he noted that the weapon is the same as those that have been used by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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Aside from the apparent certainty that the strikes were not launched from Yemen, Saudi Arabia is reportedly still investigating where exactly the attacks originated. Read more at Al Jazeera and RTE.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.