{"id":5461,"date":"2026-03-15T23:35:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T23:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/15\/irans-ambassador-to-saudi-arabia-denies-attacks-on-its-oil-facilities\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T23:35:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T23:35:46","slug":"irans-ambassador-to-saudi-arabia-denies-attacks-on-its-oil-facilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/15\/irans-ambassador-to-saudi-arabia-denies-attacks-on-its-oil-facilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s ambassador to Saudi Arabia denies attacks on its oil facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Alireza Enayati says relations with Saudi Arabia are \u2018progressing naturally\u2019 and he\u2019s in direct contact with Saudi officials.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Iran\u2019s ambassador to Saudi Arabia denied Tehran is responsible for attacks on Saudi Arabia\u2019s oil infrastructure, saying if it was behind the strikes, it would have announced it.<\/p>\n<p>Alireza Enayati did not suggest who carried out the attacks, but added Iran is only attacking United States and Israeli military targets and interests during the ongoing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/15\/iran-war-what-is-happening-on-day-16-of-us-israel-attacks\">war<\/a>, Reuters news agency quoted him as saying on Sunday.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/15\/trump-calls-for-naval-coalition-to-open-strait-of-hormuz-can-it-work\">Trump calls for naval coalition to open Strait of Hormuz: Can it work?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/15\/trump-says-us-may-hit-irans-kharg-island-again-just-for-fun\">Trump says US may hit Iran\u2019s Kharg Island again \u2018just for fun\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/15\/how-trumps-unchecked-power-has-changed-the-world\">How Trump\u2019s unchecked power has changed the world<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/15\/france-offers-to-broker-lebanon-israel-talks-what-do-we-know\">France offers to broker Lebanon-Israel talks: What do we know?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>After the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran at the end of February, Tehran retaliated against US and Israeli military assets, including in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/4\/which-oil-and-gas-facilities-in-the-gulf-have-been-attacked\"> Ras Tanura oil refinery<\/a> was forced to stop operations after debris from a drone caused a small fire. Attempted attacks were also reported on the Shaybah oilfield in the desert near the border with the UAE.<\/p>\n<p>So far, Saudi Arabia\u2019s Defence Ministry has not blamed anyone for the attacks.<\/p>\n<p>Enayati said he\u2019s in direct contact with Saudi officials, explaining that relations are \u201cprogressing naturally\u201d in many areas.<\/p>\n<p>Talks included Saudi Arabia\u2019s publicly stated position that its land, sea, and air would not be used to target Iran. He didn\u2019t elaborate.<\/p>\n<p>Iran and Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic relations in 2023, in a deal brokered by China, that saw the two sides, which backed rival groups across the region, agree on a new chapter in bilateral relations.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"reliance-on-external-powers\">\u2018Reliance on external powers\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Enayati reiterated to the Gulf states that the war \u201chas been imposed on us and the region\u201d following coordinated US and Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about the attacks on Gulf nations, Enayati replied: \u201cWe are neighbours, and we cannot do without each other; we will need a serious review.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat the region has witnessed over the past five decades is the result of an exclusionary approach and an excessive reliance on external powers,\u201d he said, calling for deeper ties between the Gulf Cooperation Council\u2019s six members along with Iraq and Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also denied his country is targeting civilian or residential areas in the Middle East, and said Tehran is ready to form a committee with its neighbours to investigate the responsibility for such strikes.<\/p>\n<p>So far, the UAE, which normalised relations with Israel in 2020, has faced the brunt of Iran\u2019s attacks, with US bases and oil refineries heavily targeted.<\/p>\n<p>While all countries targeted have strongly condemned Iran\u2019s missile and drone strikes, regional sources say there remains growing frustration at the United States for dragging them into a war they did not sign up for but are now paying the heaviest price for, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n<p>Enayati said to resolve the conflict, the US and Israel need to stop their attacks, and international security guarantees to prevent future \u201caggression\u201d must be given.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"295\" data-end=\"472\">Paul Musgrave, associate professor at Georgetown University in Qatar, said the administration of US President Donald Trump has lost much of its leverage in the region, and the US engaged in the wrong conflict at the wrong moment, without proper planning.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1011\" data-end=\"1463\">Iran\u2019s strategy, meanwhile, now seems to be \u201cnot who has a bigger bomb or bigger munitions, but who has the highest threshold for pain\u201d, Musgrave told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/INTERACTIVE-DEATH-TOLL-tracker-war-US-Israel-and-Iran-attacks-March-15-2026-1773559836.png?quality=80\" alt=\"INTERACTIVE - DEATH TOLL - tracker - war - US Israel and Iran attacks - March 15, 2026-1773559836\" data-interactive=\"true\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alireza Enayati says relations with Saudi Arabia are \u2018progressing naturally\u2019 and he\u2019s in direct contact with Saudi officials. Iran\u2019s ambassador to Saudi Arabia denied Tehran is responsible for attacks on Saudi Arabia\u2019s oil infrastructure, saying if it was behind the strikes, it would have announced it. Alireza Enayati did not suggest who carried out the &#8230; <a title=\"Iran\u2019s ambassador to Saudi Arabia denies attacks on its oil facilities\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/15\/irans-ambassador-to-saudi-arabia-denies-attacks-on-its-oil-facilities\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Iran\u2019s ambassador to Saudi Arabia denies attacks on its oil facilities\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}