Leaking US recommendations on attacking Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon officials on Monday made recommendations on Washington's intervention to respond to attacks on Saudi oil facilities on Saturday, The Washington Post reported.

Pentagon officials on Monday made recommendations for a limited response to recent attacks in Saudi Arabia, citing the high cost of confrontation with Iran, the newspaper said.

The newspaper pointed out that military officials are discussing in secret - and cautiously - seeking to defuse tensions that would push the United States to a possible bloody conflict with Iran.

According to officials familiar with the Pentagon's internal deliberations, the failure to target US personnel or facilities in Saturday's attacks in Saudi Arabia is not, in their view, worthy of a direct US military response to Iran.

If the response to Tehran is necessary, the administration will need to find a proper legal basis for such a move, the officials stressed.

Pentagon officials also warned of the consequences of tensions with Iran spiraling out of control, about 70,000 US troops under US Central Command.

It is noteworthy that the drones targeted Saudi oil facilities on Saturday, which led to the suspension of 5% of global energy production.

Yemen's Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Saudi Arabia holds Iran responsible.

The source of the attack
Earlier, the newspaper quoted a US official that US military investigators arrived at the site of the attack at the Abqaiq facility, and that they are collecting information about the weapons used there.

She said investigators were working on the assumption that the strikes did not originate from Yemen, and that they did not believe they came from Iraq.

An initial assessment found that 15 buildings in Abqaiq were damaged on the western and northwestern sides, not on the southern façades as expected if the attack came from Yemen.

Study options
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said recent attacks on two Saudi Aramco oil facilities were "unprecedented" and that the United States was working with its allies to defend a world order undermined by Iran.

Esper said on Twitter that he returned to the Department of Defense after a meeting at the White House where the leadership of the Department and other officials briefed President Trump on the situation.

Esber told Riyadh that Washington was considering all options to counter attacks on Saudi Arabia, the official SPA news agency said.

Trump shuns
But US President Donald Trump has confirmed his desire to avoid war with Iran, saying his country is ready to help Saudi Arabia in return for money but must defend itself, while US investigators have begun collecting evidence on the ground.

Trump told reporters that US officials were investigating who was responsible for the attacks on Saudi Aramco's facilities, adding that Iran appeared to be responsible, but he certainly wanted to avoid war with it, although his country had the "most powerful army in the world." Diplomacy is never exhausted when it comes to Iran.

"I think a big part of the responsibility lies with Saudi Arabia in defending itself, and if there is protection from us, Saudi Arabia also has to pay a lot of money. I also think the Saudis should have a big contribution if we decide to take any Action, they have to pay, they understand it well. "

Rouhani speaks
In contrast, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Aramco's attack responded similarly from "Yemeni citizens" to the attack on their country.

Rouhani stressed at a press conference with his Russian and Turkish counterparts in Ankara that "the Yemeni people exercise their legitimate right of defense, and that the attacks were a reciprocal response to the aggression against Yemen for years."

The soft planes targeted last Saturday two oil facilities, one of them a huge crude oil processing plant in Saudi Arabia, and led to a decline in global oil production by 5%.