UK must stop selling arms to Saudis instead of accusing Iran: Official

Iran says London must stop selling arms to Riyadh instead of accusing Tehran, after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson alleged that the Islamic Republic was involved in last week’s drone attacks on two major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said on Monday "The British government, instead of [making] fruitless efforts against the Islamic Republic of Iran, should take action to stop selling lethal weapons to Saudi Arabia, which is a demand of many people in the world, and should release itself from the accusation of committing war crimes against the people of Yemen."

Johnson said earlier in the day that his country believes Iran was behind the attacks on the Saudi oil facilities and added that London would work with the United States and European allies to de-escalate tensions in the Persian Gulf.

“The UK is attributing responsibility with a very high degree of probability to Iran for the Aramco attacks. We think it very likely indeed that Iran was indeed responsible,” Johnson told reporters on the plane while flying to New York to attend the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

On September 14, Yemen’s Ansarullah Movement and their allies in the Yemeni army deployed as many as 10 drones to bomb Abqaiq and Khurais oil facilities run by the Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco.

The unprecedented attack knocked out more than half of Saudi crude output, or five percent of global supply, prompting Saudi and US officials to claim without any evidence that it probably originated from Iraq or Iran.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have accused Iran of carrying out the attack on Aramco installations. Tehran, however, has rejected the allegations, with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif saying Washington seems to be shifting from a failed campaign of “maximum pressure” to one of “maximum lying” and “deceit” against the Islamic Republic.

“US & its clients are stuck in Yemen because of the illusion that weapon superiority will lead to military victory,” said Zarif on his official Twitter page.

The US-backed Saudi air campaign against neighboring Yemen has so far martyred thousands of civilians, caused millions to leave or lose their homes, and sparked widespread starvation.

ME