Timur Azari
March 18 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia reserves the right to take military action against Iran and any trust with Tehran has been shattered, the kingdom’s foreign minister said early on Thursday after Riyadh was targeted by an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
Iran blamed Israel for attacks on its facilities in the giant South Pars gas field on Wednesday, a major escalation in the U.S.-Israeli war that sent oil prices soaring and vowed to retaliate against oil and gas targets across the Gulf and launch missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Farhan delivered the Gulf kingdom’s harshest words in the nearly three-week war, accusing Iran of premeditated hostilities against its neighbors either directly or through a series of regional proxies as he urged Tehran to take power.
“Pressure from Iran will be politically and morally counterproductive, and of course we reserve the right to take military action if necessary,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told a news conference after a meeting of the region’s top diplomats in Riyadh.
Around the time of the meeting, where foreign ministers from more than a dozen countries including Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Syria gathered for consultations on the Iran war, interceptors were seen launching from near a Riyadh hotel.
The three-week-old war between the United States and Israel against Iran shows few signs of easing, with the conflict spreading across the region and causing unprecedented damage to global energy supplies.
Oil and gas facilities in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia faced attacks on Wednesday, authorities in those countries said, after Iran said it would retaliate against an Israeli attack on a key gas field.
Saudi Arabia has been hit by hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones since the conflict began, with authorities saying the vast majority have been intercepted.
But Wednesday’s attack marked the first time many in the city heard explosions or received warning messages via text message.
Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said it shot down four ballistic missiles aimed at Riyadh, with some debris falling near an oil refinery in the south of the city.
Saudi Arabia and Iran re-established diplomatic ties in 2023 in an effort to calm tensions after a history of hostility and support for political and military factions in the region.
Ben Farhan said Saudi Arabia still preferred the diplomatic path, but “if Iran doesn’t stop immediately, I think there will be little that can be done to rebuild trust.”
(Reporting by Timor Azari. Editing by Jane Merriman, Gareth Jones and Michael Perry)
