The Saudi Defense Ministry said on Monday that its forces had intercepted and destroyed several drones launched from Iraqi territory targeting petroleum facilities in the Eastern Region and Riyadh.

The ministry accused groups loyal to Tehran of launching the drones, despite the relative calm that has prevailed since Friday night amid the ongoing tensions between Iran and the United States.

The ministry went on to say the “terrorist attempts were launched from Iraqi territory and carried out by Iranian-backed terrorist militias”, according to an official statement posted on social media.Si

Similarly, Saudi Arabia called on the Iraqi government to prevent attacks from being launched from its territory, after accusing pro-Iranian militias based there of targeting the kingdom with drones.

The kingdom “affirms the necessity for the Iraqi government to take all necessary measures to ensure the prevention of the use of its territory as a launching point for aggression”, read a statement posted by an official Saudi broadcaster.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they launched drone attacks on Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure on Monday in response to incursions by the kingdom’s drones.

The Houthis’ military spokesman Yahya Saree said “a number of sensitive targets and points involved in the supply and transport of crude oil from eastern Saudi Arabia to Yanbu were struck using several drones”, referring to the port city where the Gulf monarchy’s East-West pipeline reaches the Red Sea.

Earlier, Tehran said it had halted retaliatory attacks against Washington’s allies in the Middle East, and US ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told US media that, while forces remained ‘locked and loaded’, Trump would give negotiations ‘a little bit of room’. (AFP)