When Saudi oil refineries were struck by a drone attack on Saturday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was quick to declare Iran responsible. This was par for the course for Pompeo, who has long been the driving force in pushing the US toward military action against Iran.



Iran rejected the accusation, saying that the US allegations were “meaningless” and just meant to justify military action. Officials also presented it as a continuation of US “deceit” about Iran.



Indeed there doesn’t appear to be any publicly available evidence of Iranian involvement, while Yemen’s Houthi movement, the most probable culprit, openly admits to having carried out the attack themselves. Pompeo says there is “no evidence” the attack came from Yemen, suggesting that North Yemen’s largest faction flat out saying they did it doesn’t count as evidence to him.



A commander for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard also suggested if Iran wanted to attack something, it wouldn’t be some Saudi refinery, noting that a number of US military bases and aircraft carriers are well within range of Iranian missiles. He added that Iran has long prepared for a full-fledged war, suggesting Iran is ready to respond if the US uses this as a pretext for war.



What the US will ultimately do with Pompeo’s narrative remains to be seen, though President Trump has declared the US “locked and loaded” for action, and is waiting for the Saudis to assign blame for the attack.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz