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

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

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.

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."

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Saudi foreign minister - full interview

He said that tougher sanctions on Iran could be implemented and added: "The burden is on Iran to reduce its aggression and act like a normal country."

The US was considering a response to an Iranian missile strike that brought down a US Navy drone over the Strait of Hormuz which Iran has threatened to close.

Mr Al Jubeir said: "Closing the Strait of Hormuz is going to generate a very, very strong reaction.

"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."

Donald Trump has warned that Iran has made a "very big mistake" after its military shot down a US surveillance drone.

The downing of the drone came a day after Washington announced it was sending another 1,000 troops to the Middle East in response to what it described as "hostile behaviour" by Iranian forces.

The US has blamed Iran for attacks on tankers and cargo ships in the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz, a major transit route for global oil supplies.

On Wednesday the US navy released pictures of pieces of mines recovered after the attacks which it said "strikingly" resemble those belonging to Iran.

Officials showed debris and a magnet recovered, they said, from the tanker Kokuka Courageous to reporters at the US navy's 5th Fleet base near Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Iran's Revolutionary Guard left them behind when they removed an unexploded limpet mine after the attack, the officials claimed.

Tehran has denied any involvement.

Tensions between the two countries have increased since Mr Trump last year withdrew America from the 2015 international nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran. </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> The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not seek a military confrontation with Iran, but is committed to work with its allies to stop Iran's "aggressive" behaviour, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has said.

"I think the situation is very grave because of the aggressive behaviour 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 il whcih 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.

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.

The diplomat also reiterated that Riyadh and its allies were still contemplating "various options" regarding how to respond to Iran. 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 June 13. The United States, Saudi Arabia, and other powers almost immediately blamed Iran for the attacks. Tehran has vehimently 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 May 12, 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, informally 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.
Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Adel Al-Jubeir says Iran "has to understand that its aggressive behaviour cannot be sustained" and that his country is "trying to avoid a war at all costs".