Iran rebukes British leader Johnson over oil attack blame

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran is criticizing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after he said Britain has concluded Iran was responsible for attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.

Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency quotes Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi condemning “fruitless efforts against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Mousavi says “the British government should stop selling lethal weapons to Saudi Arabia” over its war in Yemen.

Johnson told reporters flying with him Sunday to New York for the UN General Assembly that Britain “is attributing responsibility with a very high degree of probability to Iran” for the September 14 drone-and-missile attack.

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani reviews a military parade marking the 39th anniversary of the outset of the Iran-Iraq war, in front of the shrine of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran, Iran, September 22, 2019. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

Saudi Arabia and the US also blame Iran. Iran denies being responsible. Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed the attack, though analysts say the cruise missiles used didn’t have the range to be fired from Yemen.

— AP