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‘Have significant capabilities’: Saudi's big warning to Iran, says it ‘reserves right to take military action’
Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said that the country has “significant capacities and capabilities that they could bring to bear should they choose to do so.”
Saudi Arabia has warned Iran, saying it “reserves the right to take military actions” and possesses “very significant capacities and capabilities,” marking its one of the strongest responses yet since the Gulf conflict began nearly three weeks ago.
Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said the kingdom retains the option of responding militarily if tensions continue to escalate.
“This pressure from Iran will backfire politically and morally and certainly we reserve the right to take military actions if deemed necessary,” he said at a news conference in Riyadh, reported Reuters. Track Abu Dhabi, Dubai news live updates
‘Premeditated’ attacks, says Riyadh
Farhan accused Tehran of carrying out deliberate and coordinated attacks, both directly and through regional proxies. He pointed to the precision of recent strikes as evidence.
“The level of accuracy in some of this targeting – you can see it in our neighbours as well as the kingdom – indicates that this is something that was premeditated, preplanned, preorganised and well thought out,” Al Jazeera quoted him as saying.
The Saudi minister stopped short of detailing what might trigger a direct military response. He, however, said that the country has “significant capacities and capabilities that they could bring to bear should they choose to do so,” the news outlet reported.
The warnings come as air defence systems were activated in Riyadh as interceptors were seen being fired near the hotel hosting the high-level meeting, around the same time foreign ministers from nearly a dozen countries — including Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Syria — had gathered in the Saudi capital for consultations on the escalating Iran war.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia said four ballistic missiles aimed at Riyadh were intercepted, though debris fell near a refinery south of the city.
Energy infrastructure hit across Gulf region
A drone struck the Aramco-Exxon joint venture refinery on Thursday, SAMREF, Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said, adding that the extent of the damage was still being assessed, reported Reuters.
The ministry also said it intercepted a ballistic missile headed for Yanbu, the Red Sea port city that serves as the kingdom’s only crude export outlet and houses key refining infrastructure.
In Kuwait, drones hit operational units at refineries in Mina al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah, sparking fires. Qatar reported “extensive damage” at Ras Laffan, the heart of its LNG operations, while the UAE shut gas facilities after intercepting incoming missiles.
The attacks followed Iranian evacuation warnings for oil installations in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE after strikes on its own infrastructure.
