Saudi oil attack was approved by Iran's supreme leader, U.S. official says
2019-09-19 08:56:00 source：CBS News
September 18, 2019
Washington —The recent attack on Saudi oil facilities was approved by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, but only on the condition that it be carried out in a way that made it possible to deny Iranian involvement, a U.S. official told CBS News.
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday displayed wreckage of what it said were Iranian cruise missiles and drones. The circuit boards can be reverse engineered to determine the exact route the weapons flew. But U.S. officials said the most damning evidence is still unreleased satellite photos showing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard making preparations for the attack at Ahvaz Air Base in southwestern Iran.
From there, the weapons flew through Kuwaiti airspace some 400 miles to their targets in Saudi Arabia. The satellite photos were of no use in stopping the attack since their significance was not realized until after the fact. "We were caught completely off guard," one U.S. official said.
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