Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said on Thursday that the international community is determined to push back against “aggressive” behavior of Iran, adding that Saudi Arabia does not want war with Iran. </s> FILE PHOTO - Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir speaks during a news conference with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (not pictured) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia agrees with the United States that Iran was behind the suspected attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said on Thursday.

“We have no reason to disagree with the secretary of state. We agree with him,” Jubeir told CNN. “Iran has a history of doing this.”

(This story corrects Saudi minister’s title in headline and first paragraph) </s> The Saudi Arabian foreign minister said Sunday that his country is not seeking to start a war with Iran but is ready to defend itself from any threat, following recent attacks in the Gulf region.

Adel al-Jubeir said in a news conference that the kingdom’s “hands are always extended to peace and seeks to achieve it, and believes that the peoples of the region, including the Iranian people, have the right to live in security and stability and to move towards development.” </s> LONDON: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir has said that if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz there will be a “very, very strong reaction.”

In a press meeting with Arab and international media outlets on the sidelines of his official visit to London, Al-Jubeir said that “calm is required in the region, but we cannot reach that end as Iran’s hostile behavior has inflicted a great deal of harm.”

He stressed that the Kingdom did not want a war with Iran but that the international community was determined to confront aggressive Iranian behavior.

Al-Jubeir affirmed that the Kingdom was consulting with allies to secure water corridors and was exploring several options. He said that there was sufficient evidence to blame Iran over the recent attacks on oil tankers.

Iranian hostilities on maritime navigation affected the world, he said. The attacks on four oil tankers off UAE’s Fujairah port and two tankers in the Gulf of Oman were acts of sabotage which Iran was accused of being involved in. He called on Iran to change its hostile behavior, stop supporting terrorism and return to being a normal state.

Al-Jubeir said that it was absurd to imagine that any party was trying to drag major powers into a war with Iran.

On a judgment issued by the UK Supreme Court to review the licenses to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, Al-Jubeir explained that the British ruling on arms sales is procedural and an internal matter. </s> Saudi Arabia’s minister of state for foreign affairs says it is determined to push back against what it considers the aggressive behaviour of its regional rival, Iran, According to Bbc.com.

Adel al-Jubeir told the BBC’s Lyse Doucet that the kingdom was consulting with allies to see what steps could be taken and was trying to “send a message very clearly to the Iranians that this behaviour is not acceptable and must stop”.

Iran has denied that it was behind suspected mine attacks last week on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, as well as a missile strike on a Saudi airport claimed by Yemen’s rebel Houthi movement. </s> Saudi Arabia 'wants to avoid war with Iran at all costs'

Saudi Arabia 'wants to avoid war with Iran at all costs'

Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir has told Sky News the Saudi government wanted to 'avoid war at all costs' with Iran

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has told Sky News his country wants to avoid war with Iran at all costs.

Adel Al-Jubeir denied suggestions by Iran that Saudi Arabia was trying to provoke a war with Iran.

He said: "That is ridiculous. We have made it clear and so has the US. The escalation has come from the Iranian side with their aggressive behaviour.

"We are trying to avoid a war at all costs. We are consulting with our friends and allies to see what options and steps can be taken.

"Iran has to understand that its aggressive behaviour cannot be sustained." </s> A Saudi diplomat says the kingdom does not want war, but will defend itself, amid a recent spike in tensions with Iran.

Adel al-Jubeir, the minister of state for foreign affairs, spoke a week after four oil tankers were targeted in an alleged act of sabotage off the coast of the United Arab Emirates – and days after Iran-allied Yemeni rebels claimed a drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline.

Saudi Arabia has blamed the pipeline attack on Iran.

Gulf officials say an investigation into the tanker incident is under way.

Mr al-Jubeir told reporters: “We want peace and stability in the region, but we won’t stand with our hands bound.”

Ministers from major oil-producing countries were to meet in Saudi Arabia later Tuesday. </s> Saudi Arabia wants to avert war in the region but stands ready to respond with "all strength and determination" after last week's attacks on Saudi oil assets, a senior official said, adding that the ball was now in Iran's court.

Riyadh has accused Tehran of ordering Tuesday's drone attacks on two oil pumping stations in the kingdom, claimed by Yemen's Houthi group.

The attack came two days after four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, were sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

Iran has denied it was behind the attacks which come as Washington and the Islamic republic spar over sanctions and the US military presence in the region, raising concerns about a potential US-Iran conflict.

"The kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not want a war in the region nor does it seek that," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference on Sunday.

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"It will do what it can to prevent this war and at the same time it reaffirms that in the event the other side chooses war, the kingdom will respond with all force and determination, and it will defend itself and its interests."

A senior Iranian military commander was similarly quoted as saying his country is not looking for war, in comments published in Iranian media on Sunday.

The remarks came as Saudi Arabia's King Salman invited Gulf and Arab leaders to convene emergency summits in Mecca on May 30 to discuss implications of the attacks.

"The current critical circumstances entail a unified Arab and Gulf stance toward the besetting challenges and risks," the UAE foreign ministry said.

The US Navy's Fifth Fleet, in a statement about increased maritime patrols, said Gulf countries were "specifically increasing communication and coordination with each other in support of regional naval cooperation and maritime security operations in the Arabian Gulf".

Their navies and coastguards working with the US Navy, it said.

The UAE has not blamed anyone for the tanker operation, pending an investigation.

No one has claimed responsibility, but two US government sources said last week that US officials believed Iran had encouraged the Houthi group or Iraq-based Shia militias to carry it out. The Houthis claimed the attack on the pipelines.

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'Not afraid'

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has dismissed the possibility of war erupting, saying Tehran did not want conflict and no country had the "illusion it can confront Iran".

This stance was echoed by the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards on Sunday.

"We are not pursuing war but we are also not afraid of war," Major General Hossein Salami was cited as saying by the semi-official news agency Tasnim.

Washington has tightened economic sanctions against Iran, trying to cut Tehran's oil exports to zero, and beefed up the US military presence in the Gulf in response to what it said were Iranian threats to US troops and interests. It has not offered details of the nature of the threat.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed regional developments, including efforts to strengthen security and stability, in a phone call with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Saudi Media Ministry tweeted on Sunday.

"We want peace and stability in the region but we will not sit on our hands in light of the continuing Iranian attack," al-Jubeir said. "The ball is in Iran's court and it is up to Iran to determine what its fate will be."

He said the crew of an Iranian oil tanker that had been towed to Saudi Arabia early this month after a request for help due to engine trouble were still in the kingdom receiving the "necessary care". The crew are 24 Iranians and two Bangladeshis.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are adversaries in the Middle East, backing opposite sides in several regional wars.

In a sign of the heightened tension, Exxon Mobil evacuated foreign staff from an oilfield in neighbouring Iraq.

Bahrain on Saturday warned its citizens against travel to Iraq and Iran and asked those already there to return.

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an advisory to US commercial airliners flying over the waters of the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to exercise caution. </s> Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have expressed grave concerns over the recent string of sabotage attacks on oil tankers off the UAE coast and the Gulf of Oman, and accused Iran of involvement in the attacks.

Tehran has vehemently denied the claims, and accused the US and its allies of escalating the crisis in the region.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not seek a military confrontation with Iran, but is committed to working with its allies to stop Iran’s “aggressive” behavior, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has said.

“I think the situation is very grave because of the aggressive behavior of Iran,” al-Jubeir said, speaking to reporters in London on Thursday.

“When you interfere with international shipping, it has an impact on the supply of energy, it has an impact on the price of oil which has an impact on the world economy. It essentially affects almost every person on the globe,” the foreign minister said, reiterating Riyadh’s previous charges about Iranian involvement in the tanker attacks.



 After a major oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia was struck by armed drones, war with Iran now seems possible. Alex explains that, because war with Iran may lead to terror attacks on U.S. soil, President Trump must make the right decision for the American people.

Al-Jubeir challenged claims made by the Iranian side and by others that some other power was trying to drag the US into a war with Iran, suggesting this was a ‘ridiculous’ assertion to make.

The diplomat also reiterated that Riyadh and its allies were still contemplating “various options” regarding how to respond to Iran in protecting regional waterways. He warned that any attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz would generate a “very, very strong reaction.” Iranian officials have previously warned that the strategic strait, through which an estimated one-third of the world’s seaborne oil supplies are transported, might be closed in the event of aggression against Tehran.

Tensions in the Middle East escalated again last week following an attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on 13 June. The United States, Saudi Arabia, and other powers almost immediately blamed Iran for the attacks. Tehran has vehemently denied the claims. Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that US claims didn’t contain “a shred of factual or [even] circumstantial evidence,” and alleged that the tanker incident was an attempt by the US and its Saudi, Emirati and Israeli allies to engage in “sabotage diplomacy” to “cover up its economic terrorism against Iran.”

Last week’s incident was the second alleged sabotage attack in a month. On 12 May, four tankers, including two Saudi ships, one Emirati vessel and one Norwegian tanker, were hit in similar attacks off the coast of the UAE. The US and its allies blamed those attacks on Iran, as well.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran have been rocky for decades. The regional powers, seen as the leaders of the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam, respectively, have accused one another of waging proxy wars in countries across the region, from Yemen to Syria. In 2016, Riyadh severed all diplomatic ties to Tehran after Iranian activists attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic in protest of Saudi authorities’ decision to execute a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric.



 Footage released by the US reveals what appear to be Iranian ships removing a mine from the side of one of the oil tankers in the middle of the night. Matt Bracken joins Alex to break down exactly why he believes the mine was produced by the Iranian government.
Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir says his country "seeks to avert war, ready to respond with force and determination" to a would-be attack by Iran.