Iran warns US it’s ‘ready for fully-fledged war’ and American bases are ‘within range of our missiles’ after Saudi oil plant attack
IRAN has today warned the US it's "ready for a fully-fledged war" and American bases are "within range of our missiles".
The threat, from a top Revolutionary Guards commander, comes hours after drone attacks on the world's largest oil plants in Saudi Arabia.
"READY FOR WAR"
Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told US President Donald Trump on Saturday that Riyadh was willing and able to deal with the "terrorist aggression".
Turkey, an ally of Iran, condemned the drone assault.
But its foreign ministry recommended avoiding "all sorts of provocative steps" that could damage regional security and stability.
A senior Emirati official said the UAE, Riyadh's main partner in the Western-backed military coalition in Yemen, would fully support Saudi Arabia as the assault "targets us all".
The UAE has recently scaled down its military presence, leaving Riyadh to try to neutralise the Houthis to prevent Iran from gaining influence along its border.
IMPACT ON OIL
State-run oil company Saudi Aramco said the strikes would cut output by 5.7million barrels per day, or more than five per cent of global crude supply, at a time when Aramco is gearing up for a stock market listing.
Aramco gave no timeline for when output would resume but said early Sunday it would give a progress update in around 48 hours.
A source close to the matter told Reuters the return to full oil capacity could take "weeks, not days".
The kingdom, the world's top oil exporter, ships more than seven million barrels of oil to global destinations every day, and for years has served as the supplier of last resort to markets.
America said it was ready to tap its emergency oil reserves if needed after the attack on two oil plants, including the world's biggest petroleum processing facility in Abqaiq.