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Iran launched nearly a dozen cruise missiles and over 20 drones from its territory in the attack on a key Saudi oil facility Saturday, a senior Trump administration official told ABC News Sunday.It is an extraordinary charge to make, that Iran used missiles and drones to attack its neighbor and rival Saudi Arabia, as the region teeters on the edge of high tensions.President Donald Trump warned the U.S. was "locked and loaded" to respond to the attack on Sunday, waiting for verification of who was responsible and for word from Saudi Arabia on how to proceed.https://abcnews.go.com/International/iran-fired-cruise-missiles-attack-saudi-oil-facility/story?id=65632653  

Saudi and American officials are investigating the possibility that attacks on Saudi oil facilities Saturday involved cruise missiles launched from Iraq or Iran, questioning Yemeni rebel claims of responsibility, people familiar with the matter said. Leaders of the Houthis, the Yemeni rebels whom Saudi Arabia is trying to dislodge from the country’s capital, claimed they sent a squad of drones hundreds of miles into the heart of Saudi Arabia to carry out coordinated attacks on two of the country’s vital energy sites. If true, the attacks marked the most effective and far-reaching drone strikes carried out by outgunned Houthi forces...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is blaming Iran for drone attacks Saturday against Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure. The attacks, attributed to Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, sparked huge fires at a vulnerable chokepoint for global energy supplies. But in Saturday tweets, Pompeo says "there is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen" and points the finger at Tehran. He adds, "Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply."

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation is reporting another ship has been seized in the gulf. Correspondent Amochai Stein said on Twitter: “Iran has seized another oil vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Revolutionary Guard arrests a vessel and 11 crew on 'diesel smuggling charges'."

emocratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard tweeted Sunday that President Donald Trump was making the U.S. act as “Saudi Arabia’s bitch,” addressing Trump’s tweet on drone strikes that hit Saudi oil facilities.The Hawaii representative took issue with Trump’s statement that he would wait for confirmation from the Saudi government before proceeding with a counter-strike.  “There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!” Trump tweeted Sunday.Houthi rebels...

Crude prices surged Sunday evening following an attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure and announcement from President Trump that he has authorized the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. U.S. oil futures advanced about 12% to $61.60 a barrel shortly after trading opened at 6 p.m. ET. Brent crude, the global gauge of oil prices, soared 13% to nearly $69 a barrel. If those moves held, they would mark some of the biggest intraday for crude in years. ...

(Moderator, if I can't excerpt the BBC, please note) Drone attacks have set alight two major oil facilities run by the state-owned company Aramco in Saudi Arabia, state media say. Footage showed a huge blaze at Abqaiq, site of Aramco's largest oil processing plant, while a second drone attack started fires in the Khurais oilfield. The fires are now under control at both facilities, state media said. A spokesman for the Iran-aligned Houthi group in Yemen said it had deployed 10 drones in the attacks. The military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, told al-Masirah TV, which is owned by the Houthi movement...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the United States should “bow down before the Iranian people” in a speech this week. Rouhani also indicated that he would not meet with President Donald Trump unless there was “repentance” on the part of the United States. “Those who have imposed sanctions on our people, and have carried out economic terrorism—any change in our conduct toward them must start with their repentance,” Rouhani said on Aug. 27, according to a translation from Arabic from the Middle East Media Research Institute.

The Imam of Friday Prayer of the Iranian city of Kazeroun was stabbed to death on Wednesday morning, according to Radio Farda. The Imam, Mohammad Khorsand, was stabbed in front of his home after returning from a religious ceremony early Wednesday morning, according to the provincial deputy police commander for social affairs, IRGC Colonel Kavous Mohammadi told the Iranian news agency IRNA. The murderer was identified soon after the murder and was arrested later on Wednesday in Kazeroun. The motive for the killing is still be investigated. Witnesses at the scene told IRNA that the murderer asked for a selfie...

Iran sanctions threaten the lives of young ca... In the battle over sanctions between the United States and Iran, the losers are Iranian cancer patients seeking life-saving drugs. Correspondent Imtiaz Tyab reports from a children's hospital in Tehran where vital drugs are running out

Israel says It Attacked Iranian Targets in Syria By Linda Gradstein August 25, 2019 Israel says it had attacked Iranian targets in Syria to foil an imminent attack by what it called Iranian "killer drones" on Israel. Despite Iranian denials of the attack, the incident has sparked new tensions between Israel and Iran. Israel ordered deployment of its Iron Dome missile to its border with Syria. It is rare that Israel takes responsibility for air strikes on Iranian targets in Syria, although Israel is believed to have carried out hundreds of these attacks over the past few years. But this...

Israeli warplanes bombed Iranian-linked targets in Iraq and Syria in July, the Arabic-language Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported Tuesday, quoting Western diplomatic sources. The sources told the London-based newspaper that on July 19, Israel carried out an attack on the base of an Iran-linked paramilitary group in the northern Salahuddin province of Iraq. Reports initially said that the attack was carried out by a drone and and led to the deaths of an unconfirmed number of Iranian Revolutionary Guard fighters. According to the Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya, the base housed Iranian-made ballistic missiles hidden in food refrigeration trucks. Israeli officials, including...

The Israeli Air Force attacked Syrian targets near the city of Hama, killing two Iranians, according to Syrian media outlets and foreign accounts reported on Saturday. The reports attributed the attacks to Israel, noting that it was carried out from Lebanese airspace. Following the attack, and allegedly two Iranian soldiers were killed and several buildings were destroyed. The attack was reportedly carried out on a military base under the control of Iranian forces, and was attacked several times in the past. In the social networks, the surfers posted a record of the attacks and missiles fired at the site, accusing...

The target was reportedly an underground missile production facility and depot for surface-to-surface missiles. The explosions following the strike registered as a 2.6 magnitude earthquake, but the weapons used did not cause the quake. Over 18 people were killed and another 60 were wounded. The targets were Syrian army bases being used by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and Shi'ite militias with troops from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Missiles also struck targets in the Al-Malikiyah area, north of the Aleppo’s airport. The underground missile production facility and depot for surface-to-surface missile is funded by Iran and built with the help...

The shadow war between Israel and Iran in Syria escalated sharply on Monday after suspected Israeli strikes killed 26 Iranian and Assad regime fighters, according to monitors. One strike tore through a military base dug into a mountain near the central city of Hama on Sunday night, causing an explosion so large it registered as a 2.6 magnitude earthquake. A second strike targeted an airbase near the northern city of Aleppo. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack but suspicion immediately fell on Israel, which has carried out a number of strikes as it tries to prevent Iran...

The Syrian army said 'enemy' rocket attacks struck military bases belonging to Syrian President Bashar Assad, Syrian state TV reported. A report on a Syrian newspaper facebook page attributes the attack to the U.S. and Britain. Media outlets affiliated with the Syrian opposition claim 38 government soldiers were killed in the strike in Hama, with an additional 57 wounded.

The United State has imposed sanctions on a leading Chinese state-owned company for importing Iranian oil. The sanctions placed by the U.S. State Department bar Zhuhai Zhenrong Corporation, one of China’s largest state-run oil companies, from “engaging in foreign exchange, banking or property transactions under US jurisdiction,” London-based Financial Times reported. “As part of that maximum pressure campaign, I am announcing that the United States is imposing sanctions on the Chinese entity Zhuhai Zhenrong and its chief executive Youmin Li,” Secretary of State Pompeo told reporters on Tuesday. While the U.S. sanctions have deterred almost all foreign buyers in Europe...

Debate within the United States over the correct policy for dealing with the Islamic Republic of Iran has long been centered on the idea of a dichotomy between engagement and war. Defenders of the status quo continue to suggest that in order to avoid armed conflict, we must turn a blind eye to the theocratic regime’s domestic repression and its propensity for mischief-making beyond Iran’s borders. Starting with that assumption, anyone who recommends a decisive alternative policy is painted as a warmonger.But this is a false narrative, which serves the interests of the Iranian regime and has roots in its...

As the U.S. piles sanction after sanction on Iran, it’s the average person who feels it the most. From a subway performer’s battered leather hat devoid of tips, to a bride-to-be’s empty purse, the lack of cash from the economic pressure facing Iran’s 80 million people can be seen everywhere. Many blame President Donald Trump and his maximalist policy on Iran, which has seen him pull out of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and levy punishing U.S. sanctions on the country. In recent weeks, Iran has threatened to break out of the deal unless European powers mitigate what...

Israel was seriously dismayed when first reports reached Jerusalem about the telephone conversation between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin Tuesday, during which Trump agreed to consider Putin’s plan for “de-escalation zones” in Syria, in place of the American security zones proposal. The Russian president’s plan includes the posting of Iranian military officers as co-monitors for those zones, one of which is to be located on the Syrian-Israeli border. President Trump described the conversation as “Very good.” The four “de-escalation zones” proposed would be situated at: 1. The northwestern province of Idlib up to the Turkish border; 2. The central...