Amidst heightened tensions in the region after a drone attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will embark on a two-day visit to the Middle East, according to US State Department on Tuesday.
Pompeo will travel to the Saudi city of Jeddah and Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, on September 17-19, the US State Department.
He will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to discuss the recent attack on the Kingdom’s oil facilities and coordinate efforts to counter Iranian aggression in the region.
After this, he will travel to Abu Dhabi to meet with UAE Prince Mohammed bin Zayed to discuss regional and bilateral issues.
The visit to Middle East Asia comes in the wake of the drone attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. Yemen’s Houthi rebels had claimed the responsibility for the attack.
On Sunday, Pompeo had said in a tweet, “Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while (President Hassan) Rouhani and (Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad) Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy. Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply.”
In another tweet, Pompeo also called for other countries to denounce Iran in retaliation to Saturday’s attack and promised American efforts to help support the energy market.
Earlier on Saturday, fires broke out at two facilities of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil producer after they were reportedly hit by drones.
Saturday’s attack is the latest part of a series of attacks on oil infrastructure, including the sabotage of pumping stations along the East-West pipeline, and attacks on oil tankers off Fujairah and close to the Strait of Hormuz.