Pompeo wants ‘peaceful’ solution to crisis over Saudi strikes

ABU DHABI, Sept 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United States wants a peaceful solution to the crisis sparked by attacks on Saudi oil facilities, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday, after Iran raised the prospect of “all-out war”.

After meeting with allies in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, Pompeo said there was an “enormous consensus in the region” that Iran carried out Saturday’s attacks, despite its denials.

“I didn’t hear anyone in the region who doubted that for a single moment,” he told reporters.

Despite earlier condemning the strikes that took out half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production as an “act of war”, Pompeo said he was in the Gulf looking to achieve peace.

“We’d like a peaceful resolution. I think we’ve demonstrated that,” he said.

“We’re here to build out a coalition aimed at achieving peace.”

“I hope the Islamic Republic of Iran sees it the same way.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier warned that any US or Saudi military strike on Iran could cause “all-out war”.

“We don’t want war, we don’t want to engage in a military confrontation,” he told CNN in an interview aired Thursday.