US President Donald Trump confers with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a multilateral meeting with Western Hemisphere leaders about Venezuela during the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US, September 25, 2019. The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions on Chinese companies for buying Iranian oil, stepping up pressure despite European attempts to arrange talks between Washington and Tehran.
"We haven't been accused of anything. Not through any formal letter or anything else to the company. We are still in the dark over why we are anchored in Bandar Abbas," Stena Bulk CEO Erik Hanell told Reuters by telephone. "The enemy assumes that we are in charge of any sophisticated job," he said. Without elaborating, he added that the Houthis were capable of "changing the entire field of war."British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, seized by Iran more than two months ago, was Wednesday given the final clearance to leave, foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
"The lifting of the detention order against Steno Impero was finalised today, but the investigation of some of its violations and environmental damage remains open," ministry spokesman Mousavi said in a tweet. He did not, however, specify who Japan thought was behind the attacks, which Riyadh, Washington and the leading EU powers have blamed on Iran. Japan has traditionally had friendly ties with Iran and Abe has been trying to ease the tensions between Tehran and Tokyo's closest ally, Washington.
"It's now up to the Iranians and the United States to seize these conditions and work together to relaunch momentum."British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for the immediate release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other dual nationals imprisoned in Iran during a meeting with Iran's President Rouhani in New York on Tuesday, a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement.
Rouhani said Tuesday that his US counterpart Trump needed to restore trust before the possibility of a meeting. But in a speech full of praise of unilateralism and criticism of China, Trump made clear he would not ease economic pressure on Iran -- a condition set by Rouhani for any meeting. Iran said on Tuesday that a statement by Britain, France and Germany accusing it of responsibility for attacks on Saudi oil facilities showed that they lacked the will to confront US "bullying", the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
"The detention order on Stena Impero had been lifted and the vessel is going through the proceedings to leave Bandar Abbas" port, Mohammad Rastad, head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization, was quoted as saying on Tuesday by the semi-official news agency ILNA. "The legal process has finished and based on that the conditions for letting the oil tanker go free have been fulfilled and the oil tanker can move," government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a news conference."We understand that the political decision has been taken to release the ship," Stena Bulk's chief executive Hanell told Swedish television station SVT.
"President Trump and I both want to give diplomacy every opportunity to succeed," said Secretary of State Pompeo. Speaking to Fox News Sunday, Pompeo added that he was confident that Trump would take action if such deterrence measures fail and this was well understood by the Iranian leadership. Stena Impero, the British-flagged tanker detained by Iran on July 19, may be released within hours, the head of the Swedish firm that owns the vessel said on Sunday.
"Your presence has always brought pain and misery for the region. The farther you keep yourselves from our region and our nations, the more security there will be for our region."Saturday, September 21Saudi Arabia will take appropriate steps to respond to an attack on its oil facilities if its investigation confirms that Iran was responsible, a senior official said on Saturday.
Riyadh has rejected a claim by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement that it carried out the strikes on two oil plants that initially halved Saudi production, the largest-ever assault on oil facilities in the world's top oil exporter.
Reuters reporters were shown repair work underway at both locations, with cranes erected around burnt-out stabilisation columns, which form part of oil-gas separation units.Trump says new sanctions on Iran Still, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the latest sanctions demonstrate the US is continuing a maximum pressure campaign, asserting "we have now cut off all funds to Iran."Saudi Arabia vowed on Friday oil production will be quickly restored as it revealed extensive damage to the Khurais oilfield following weekend aerial strikes, which have been blamed on Iran by Washington.
Journalists arrived on Friday to Buqayq in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, home to the Abqaiq oil processing facility.Iran is not limited to a "geographical location" as the Iran-backed factions around the region are "all Iran" now, high-ranking cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda said on Friday. "Investigating the refinery's civil defence situation and related topics is among the goals ... of the oil minister's one-day trip to Bandar Abbas," IRNA reported.IRNA said Zanganeh inspected several petrochemical plants and the 350,000-barrels per day Persian Gulf Star refinery, which helped Iran declare self-sufficiency in gasoline after the inauguration of its third phase in February.
A coalition spokesman said attacks had destroyed four sites used to assemble remote-controlled boats and sea mines to help protect the freedom of maritime navigation. In another tweet, Zarif accused the United States of valuing oil more than people in the Middle East, before leaving for New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations next week, state media said.
Ahmad al Sahhaf says Gulf security is the responsibility of Gulf countries. In a statement on Thursday, he said Iraq rejects Israel's participation in the coalition.The US wants a peaceful solution to the crisis sparked by attacks on Saudi oil facilities, Secretary of State Pompeo said after Iran raised the prospect of "all-out war."
Iran called on Gulf countries to "come to their senses," saying that any aggression against the country will be met with crushing response, the Iranian supreme leader's military advisor was quoted as saying by Fars news agency. "'Act of war' or AGITATION for WAR?," Zarif tweeted, in apparent reference to remarks by US Secretary of State Pompeo accusing Iran of responsibility for Saturday's attacks, which sent world energy markets into a tailspin.
The UAE is a close ally of Saudi Arabia and joined the kingdom in its war in Yemen against the Houthis. While saying that he would wait to see the results of the investigation, he said he “strongly” condemned the attack. However, he would not be drawn on whether Saudi Arabia believed Iran would ultimately be found to be the culprit, only saying they were confident they would find where the weapons were fired from.
Trump gave no explanation in a brief Twitter posting announcing the order, but the initiative follows repeated US assertions that the Islamic Republic was behind Saturday's attack on the kingdom, a close US ally. The formal memo sent on Monday through the Swiss embassy, which represents US interests in Tehran, "emphasised that Iran has not played any role in this attack and denies and condemns" the US claims to the contrary, the official IRNA news agency said.Saudi Arabia said it will unveil evidence on Wednesday linking regional foe Iran to attacks on key oil installations, as Pompeo heads to the kingdom to discuss possible retaliation.
Rouhani said Yemenis "did not hit hospitals, they did not hit schools or the Sanaa bazaar", mentioning the Saudi-led coalition's widely-criticised airstrikes. "In response to a Saudi request, President Macron confirmed to the crown prince that France will send experts to Saudi Arabia to take part in investigations aimed at revealing the origin and modalities of the attacks," the Elysee said.The US State Department called on its citizens to "exercise increased caution" while travelling to Saudi Arabia, a travel advisory posted on its website said on Wednesday.
The attack struck a Saudi oil field and the world's largest crude oil processing plant, knocking out 5.7 million barrels of crude oil production per day for the kingdom, or about 5 percent of the world's daily production. Trump said he was ready to help key ally Saudi Arabia after the weekend drone attacks, which triggered a record leap in global oil prices, but would await a "definitive" determination on who was responsible.
Peskov also said Russian President Vladimir Putin had not offered to help Saudi Arabia deal with consequences of the attacks, which did not affect preparations for Putin's upcoming visit to the country.Britain said an attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities was serious and outrageous but that the full facts were needed on who was responsible before making a response.
"The Fake News is saying that I am willing to meet with Iran, 'No Conditions.' That is an incorrect statement ," Trump said on Twitter. Yahia Sarie, a rebel spokesman, said facilities such as the Abqaiq oil processing plant and the oil field hit this weekend could again "be targeted at any time."The White House did not rule out a potential meeting between Trump and Rouhani, even after Washington accused Iran of being behind drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities.
The allegations over Saturday's strikes were meant to justify "future actions" against Iran, he added.Pompeo accused Iran of leading attacks on Saudi oil plants that have cut the kingdom's output roughly in half, as he ruled out Yemeni involvement and denounced Tehran for engaging in false diplomacy.
Under the deal signed with a subsidiary of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company , Petropars is to produce 500 million cubic feet per day of gas, state TV said.