The aftermath of the attack on two Saudi Aramco oil facilities is still raging, while the Wall Street Journal reported that Washington had told Riyadh that intelligence suggested Iran was the source of the attack.
The newspaper quoted US officials as saying that intelligence indicates that Iran was the base of the attack, and that Washington has reported this information to Saudi Arabia, as both sides are considering responding to that attack.
Saudi and US officials said Saturday's attack on the use of winged cruise missiles hit 19 targets.
Despite the Yemeni Houthi group claiming responsibility for the attack and denying Tehran and Baghdad their relationship with him, US President Donald Trump questioned the Iranian denial, saying that his country would support its allies in the region.
"Remember when Iran shot down a drone, saying it was in its airspace when it was never really close to it," Trump wrote on Twitter. .. We'll see?".
Trump stressed that his country does not need Middle East oil, but will support its allies in the region, and tweeted that the United States is an energy exporter, and "has become the largest energy producer in the world with an average of 12.5 million barrels per day."
"We don't need Middle East oil and gas, and we have very few tankers there, but we will help our allies."
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Intelligence cooperation
US officials told Reuters the United States was considering increasing intelligence sharing with Saudi Arabia after the attacks that cut the kingdom's crude production in half and shook world oil markets.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not disclose the scope of the increase in intelligence sharing. But the United States, long cautious about getting heavily involved in the Yemen war, has given Saudi Arabia only some information about threats from the Houthi group.
This comes as a spokesman for the Saudi-Emirati coalition that the weapons used in the attack on Aramco are Iranian weapons, stressing the coalition's ability to defend vital facilities.
Saturday's attacks targeted two oil facilities, one of them a large crude oil processing plant in Saudi Arabia, which led to a 5% drop in global oil production.
The Houthi group, which is allied with Iran and controls the Yemeni capital Sanaa, claimed responsibility, but US officials said they believed the attack came from the opposite direction, which could indicate Iranian or Iraqi territory.
Iraqi exile
But a statement from Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi's office said on Monday that he had talked with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by telephone about the strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
The statement added that the two sides assessed their position on the current crisis and agreed to cooperate in the exchange of information.
The statement quoted Pompeo as saying that the information held by Washington confirms the statement in the Iraqi statement that the territory of Iraq was not used in the implementation of the attack on Aramco.
Abdul-Mahdi stressed that his country's mission is to avoid any step of escalation and prevent the use of its territory against any neighboring country or sister or friend.
The statement added that Iraq policy seeks to play a positive role to dismantle the crises and conflicts in the region.
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The popular crowd
The site "Middle East Eye" was quoted a senior Iraqi intelligence official that the Aramco attacks were carried out by Iranian drones fired from the camps of the Popular Mobilization in southern Iraq.
The Iraqi official said the attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais areas were in response to Israeli drone strikes on Hashd camps and processions last August, which were coordinated and financed by the Saudis.
The same source pointed out that there are two reasons behind the attacks Saturday: The first message from Iran to America and its allies that as long as pressure and sanctions continue on Tehran, no one will enjoy stability in the region.
The second immediate reason, according to the official, is to give Iran a strong response to the recent Israeli raids launched from areas controlled by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (northeastern Syria) on positions of the pro-Tehran crowd.
Iraqi intelligence believes that the Israeli raids were planned when Saudi State Minister for Gulf Affairs Tamer al-Sabhan visited the YPG positions in June, Middle East reported.