The United States Senator Ted Cruz, member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement on September 16, 2019, urged the U.S. administration to increase pressure on Iran’s regime, following the regime’s missile attack this weekend on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities.
Senator Cruz, a Republican from Texas, said: “This weekend’s devastating attacks on Saudi Arabia were designed to try to pressure President Trump into reducing his administration’s pressure campaign against the Iranian regime. The Ayatollah’s attacks, in turn, were enabled by the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal, which enriched Iran with hundreds of billions of dollars in sanctions relief and cash, while gutting international restrictions against Iran’s weapons and ballistic missile development.”
This weekend’s devastating attacks on Saudi Arabia were designed to try to pressure @realDonaldTrump into reducing his administration’s pressure campaign against the Iranian regime.
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) September 16, 2019
“Now is absolutely not the time to reduce economic pressure on Iran. Instead, President Trump should order his administration to redouble its efforts to roll back the largesse of the deal. That means revoking the civil nuclear waivers, which allow Iran to build up its nuclear program, including at their Fordow nuclear bunker, which they dug out of the side of a mountain to build nuclear weapons. It also means going to the United Nations and invoking our unilateral right to snap back and restore international restrictions on Iran’s arms. Otherwise, we will quickly face a disastrous reality in which all international sanctions have been permanently lifted against Iran,” Sen. Cruz added.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a tweet on Monday: “The UK condemns the attack on the Aramco oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. We will work with international partners to forge the widest and most effective response.”
Today, I spoke with my Saudi?? German?? French?? and US?? counterparts to make clear the UK condemns the attack on the Aramco oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. We will work with international partners to forge the widest and most effective response.
— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) September 16, 2019
Background
Iran’s regime was responsible for an attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities over the weekend that cut into global energy supplies and halved the kingdom’s oil production.
United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday Washington was “locked and loaded” for a potential response to the attack, after a senior U.S. administration official said Iran’s regime was to blame. The U.S. also released new evidence to back up its allegation that Iran’s regime was responsible for the assault.
On November 3, 2018, Ahmad Alamalhoda, the representative of the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the city of Mashhad, made clear threats about attacking the Saudi oil facilities.
“Ghaher missiles, along with the necessary technology, have been provided to the Ansarollah (Houthis)… Once Iran issues its orders, these are enough for the Saudi Aramco oil facility. It will be able to take down all these oil facilities,” he said.
