Iran rejects Pompeo’s ‘lies’ about Yemeni drone raids on Saudi oil sites

Tehran has dismissed the US’s claim of Iranian involvement in the recent Yemeni drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities, saying Washington seems to be shifting from a failed campaign of “maximum pressure” to one of “maximum lying” and “deceit” against the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded in a tweet on Sunday to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s claim that Tehran had “launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply” and “is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia.”

Pompeo’s rant came after Yemeni armed forces conducted a large-scale drone operation on Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil facilities in response to Riyadh’s years-long military aggression, causing a partial halt in crude and gas production from the world’s top oil exporter.

The top US diplomat, however, failed short of offering any evidence to substantiate his claim.

PressTV-Saudi oil output halved after Yemeni raids; US blames Iran

Yemeni drone strikes on key Saudi oil facilities wipe out half of the kingdom’s crude and gas production power, with the US rushing to blame Iran.

Zarif said Pompeo is now resorting to a campaign of “max deceit” against Iran after the administration he serves failed to achieve the desired results from its anti-Iran “maximum pressure” policy — which has seen Washington impose the toughest of economic sanctions against the Iranian nation.

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

The top Iranian diplomat further called attention to a four-point peace proposal that Tehran submitted to the United Nations in April 2015 in an effort to help end the conflict in Yemen.

“Blaming Iran won’t end disaster. Accepting our April '15 proposal to end war & begin talks may,” Zarif added.

The Iranian proposal calls for an immediate ceasefire and end of all foreign military attacks, humanitarian assistance, a resumption of broad national dialog and “establishment of an inclusive national unity government.”

In similar comments, Abbas Mousavi, the spokesman for Zarif’s ministry, rejected Pompeo’s claims.

The Americans, he said, unleashed an anti-Iran “maximum pressure” campaign, which appears to be morphing into a campaign of “maximum lies” due to Washington’s policy failures.

Mousavi added that “futile allegations and blind statements as such are incomprehensible and meaningless within the framework of diplomacy.”

The Iranian official said such remarks “seem more like a plot being hatched by secret and intelligence organizations aimed at tarnishing a country’s image and setting the stage for future actions.”

The Foreign Ministry spokesman also criticized Saudi Arabia for fueling the flames of war in the region by committing various war crimes in Yemen for about five years, and hailed Yemen for putting up resistance in the face of the aggression.

Mousavi called for an end to the Saudi attacks against Yemen as well as a halt in the flow of arms from the West to the Riyadh regime as the sole means of restoring peace to the troubled region.

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