Pompeo travels to Saudi Arabia amid fallout from oil facility attack
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is heading to Saudi Arabia Tuesday to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman amid the fallout from a drone and missile attack on a major Saudi oil facility over the weekend.
Pompeo has blamed Iran for the attack, although President Trump has been hesitant to do so until a full review has been completed. Mr. Trump said Monday the Iranians were likely behind the attack, but wouldn't definitively state that was the case.
Pompeo will meet with the crown prince to "discuss the recent attack on the kingdom's oil facilities and coordinate efforts to counter Iranian aggression in the region," according to the State Department. The secretary of state, who returns September 19, will also be traveling to the United Arab Emirates.
The attack struck a key Saudi oil production facility and sent oil prices spiking earlier in the week.
Pompeo has been much more willing than the president to blame Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional nemesis, emphasizing that the U.S. and world must hold Iran accountable for the act of aggression. A U.S. official told CBS News the U.S. has identified the exact locations in southern Iran from which the drones and cruise missiles were launched.
"Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy," Pompeo tweeted over the weekend, referring to the Iranian president and foreign minister. "Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply."
Mr. Trump has not ruled out a U.S. response. The commander in chief tweeted earlier this week that the U.S. is "locked and loaded" for a possible retaliatory strike, and is "waiting to hear from the kingdom" on how to proceed. On Monday, the president said the U.S. will await a full review of what happened.
"The United States is more prepared than any country in the history of, in any history, if we have to go that way," Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House Monday. "As to whether or not we go that way, we'll see. We have to find out definitively who did it. We have to speak to Saudi Arabia. They have to have a lot of — they have to have a lot in the game also. And, you know, they're willing to do that. I think everybody knows they're willing to do that."
A U.S. team has already been on the ground at the oil facilities and identified the specific types of drones and cruise missiles that were used, an official told CBS News. The wreckage was moved to an area outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital.
David Martin contributed reporting.