US says new evidence points to Iran as culprit of Saudi oil attack — report

A new US report indicates that an attack on Saudi oil facilities on September 14 likely originated in Iran, Reuters reports.

The analysis, to be presented to the UN, identifies a site some 200 kilometers north of Abqaiq where one of the unmanned attack vehicles passed, indicating a trajectory from the northwest.

An earlier report identified Ahvaz air base in southwest Iran, some 650 kilometers northwest of the Abqaiq facility as a likely origin point in the brazen attack, which shut down a chunk of the world’s oil supply.

The report also includes an analysis of the drones that show them to be nearly identical to an Iranian make.

However, the report adds as a caveat that the evidence is not definitive.

“At this time, the US Intelligence Community has not identified any information from the recovered weapon systems used in the 14 September attacks on Saudi Arabia that definitively reveals an attack origin,” it says.