BORIS Johnson tried to talk Donald Trump out of war with Iran yesterday after the US President placed more sanctions on the Middle East power.
The PM urged a “diplomatic response” to the Saudi oil field attack Tehran is blamed for.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called it “an Iranian attack” and an “act of war”.
Downing Street said: “The Prime Minister spoke to President Trump this afternoon following Saturday’s attacks on the Aramco oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
“They condemned the attacks and discussed the need for a united diplomatic response from international partners.”
But Mr Trump said last night there were many options on the table, including the “ultimate option“ — war with Iran.
He earlier announced the new sanctions on Iran, escalating tensions between the two.
Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, a former Middle East minister at the Foreign Office, replied to Mr Trump’s sanctions tweet and urged calm.
He said: “And Iran will respond – increasing (Middle East) tensions & moving us a step closer to open conflict.
“We need a committed strategic rather than tactical response which looks to address the unresolved, complex, intertwined, regional issues which collectively, we have dodged for too long.”
Officials in Saudi capital Riyadh laid out pieces of the missiles and drones from the oil blasts — claiming they were made in Iran.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility. But Mr Pompeo said spooks were confident they did not possess weapons systems responsible.
He claimed the missiles were launched from Iran.
The strikes disrupted the kingdom’s oil production and saw prices spike by ten per cent around the world.
But prices fell again yesterday after the Saudis said half of the production knocked out had already been restored.
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