Saudi Arabia reserves right to military action against Iran, foreign minister says
By Timour Azhari
March 18 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia reserves the right to take military action against Iran and trust in Tehran has been shattered, the Saudi foreign minister said early on Thursday, after Riyadh was targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles.
Iran accused Israel of striking its facilities in the massive South Pars gas field on Wednesday, in a major escalation in the US-Israeli war that sent oil prices soaring, and vowed to attack oil and gas targets in the Gulf, retaliating by firing missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
In the harshest comments from the Gulf kingdom during the nearly three-week war, Farhan accused Iran of taking premeditated hostile actions against its neighbors, both directly and through a series of regional proxies, and called on Tehran to take over.
“This pressure from Iran will backfire politically and morally, and we reserve the right to take military action if deemed absolutely necessary,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said at a press conference following a meeting of top diplomats in the region in Riyadh. he said.
As the foreign ministers of nearly a dozen countries, including Turkey, the UAE, Jordan, Qatar and Syria, gathered for a consultative meeting on the Iran war, interceptors were seen firing near the hotel in Riyadh where the conference was held.
There is little sign of easing tensions in the three-week US-Israeli war against Iran, and the conflict has spread across the region, causing an unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies.
Qatari, Emirati and Saudi oil and gas facilities faced attacks on Wednesday; officials in those countries said after Iran said it would retaliate for an Israeli attack on a key gas field.
Saudi Arabia has been attacked by hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones since the beginning of the conflict; Authorities say the vast majority of them have been seized.
However, Wednesday’s attacks were the first time many people in the city heard an explosion or received a warning message via SMS.
Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said four ballistic missiles targeting Riyadh were shot down, with some debris landing near a refinery in the south of the city.
Saudi Arabia and Iran reestablished diplomatic ties in 2023 as part of an effort to defuse tensions after years of hostility against political and military groups in the region.
Bin Farhan said that Saudi Arabia still preferred the path of diplomacy, but “If Iran does not stop immediately, I think there will be almost nothing that can restore trust.”
(Reporting by Timour Azhari. Editing by Jane Merriman, Gareth Jones and Michael Perry)
