Full story
Pause, then drones
President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States was having "good talks" with Iran and that there was a chance of a deal, while warning that U.S. strikes would resume if negotiations failed to deliver.
“Saudi Arabia has reported intercepting drones that targeted oil facilities in its eastern province and Riyadh”
Trump said, "We're having good talks,” he said. “I think there's a good chance that something could happen, and if it does, good, if it doesn't, we go back to doing what we were doing two days ago."
Tehran appeared to test the pause as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq reported drone attacks Monday, with Saudi Arabia saying it shot down drones aimed at petroleum targets including in the capital Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia said the drones were launched from Iraq by Iran-backed armed groups and that it reserved the right to respond, while Yemen's Houthi allies said they targeted the 745-mile East-West Pipeline carrying oil to Saudi Arabia's main Red Sea port of Yanbu in retaliation for what they said were Saudi drone incursions into Yemeni airspace.
Tehran rejects talks
Iran said it doesn’t seek to resume peace talks with the U.S. and that it would pause its own attacks for as long as Trump's self-imposed ceasefire continues, while Tehran also said it was still in control of the contested Strait of Hormuz.
Esmail Baghaei, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in a televised news conference Monday that "reports about Iran requesting negotiations with the U.S. are fabricated," adding, "This is not in our DNA."
In contrast, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, said Sunday that Trump paused the campaign to allow room for negotiations, and the article says Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. officials claimed Iran is "begging for a deal."
The drone attacks on Saudi and elsewhere came as mediators suggested the chances of a return to negotiations have risen, but Al Jazeera reported it remained unclear whether the incidents were coordinated or separate.
Regional escalation stakes
Pakistan condemned drone attacks carried out against Saudi Arabia, calling them "Such provocative attacks" that "pose a grave threat to peace and stability across the entire region," and it said it stood in solidarity with Saudi Arabia.
The Express Tribune reported that Saudi Arabia said its air defences intercepted and destroyed several drones launched from Iraqi territory targeting oil facilities, and that a Defence Ministry statement said the drones were shot down over the past several hours before they could reach petroleum facilities in the Eastern Province and the Riyadh region.
France 24 said the attacks marked a renewed escalation involving Saudi Arabia despite a recent lull in fighting between the United States and Iran, and it quoted a Saudi defence ministry statement that "terrorist attempts were launched from Iraqi territory and carried out by Iranian-backed terrorist militias".
With the U.S. campaign paused after 13 successive nights of intensifying bombing, the end of the U.S. campaign sent oil prices tumbling, and Brent crude fell about 8.2% on Monday after briefly ticking above $100 a barrel last week for the first time since May.
