Aaron Klein, Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter, fingered Iran for carrying out aerial strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia last weekend, warning the attacks were not a localized issue but a “war on the entire global economy.”

Speaking on Israel’s i24NEWS (video above), Klein recommended that the Trump administration “respond forcefully, decisively and immediately.”

Stated Klein:

This was a war on the entire global economy. What Iran seems to be doing here is sending a message using these drone strikes that they were so obviously behind. To send the world a message that at any point whenever they decide they can carry out these kinds of precision strikes and on a much more massive scale the next time and actually cripple the international economy. So this is not localized to the Middle East. This is not only against America. This is an economic war… that is incredibly dangerous. And the Trump administration I think needs to respond forcefully, decisively and immediately.

Klein opined that Iran is emboldened by discussions about sanction relief and direct negotiations while Tehran continues to sponsor terrorism:

The problem for me is that after we were ratcheting up the pressure against Iran for quite some time suddenly we started talking about direct talks even in America with Iran. And I think the Iranians were testing the ground with downing the American drone over Iran allegedly a few months ago and I think that the talks of easing sanctions and of these direct negotiations maybe sent some wrong signals. And clearly they did. The Iranians smelled a drop of weakness and they pounced. And they pounced immediately.

Klein was referring to Iran’s downing of a U.S. surveillance drone on June 20, 2019.

Klein also raised questions about how drones and cruise missiles reportedly utilized in the latest attacks were able to fly hundreds of miles undetected by either American military bases in the region or U.S.-supplied antimissile systems in Saudi Arabia.

He noted that Iran has reportedly been able to trace back technology and produce drones based on the highly advanced U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone captured by Iranian forces in December 2011.

Iran has repeatedly denied involvement in the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, instead claiming that Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels were behind the bombings. The Houthi rebels indeed took responsibility for the attack but many have raised doubts that they could have acted alone or that they possessed sophisticated enough technology and military capabilities to carry out precision strikes that temporarily knocked out half of the Saudis’ energy production.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on the other hand, yesterday accused Iran of engaging in an “act of war” with the strikes.

Pompeo on Thursday evidenced a more conciliatory approach, saying he is seeking a “peaceful resolution,” seemingly indicating that the U.S. would likely limit its current response to sanctions.