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Trump pursues Saudi interests, not America's: Ron Paul

Tuesday, 17 September 2019 3:31 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 22 May 2023 6:32 PM ]

Former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul

Former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul has criticized US President Donald Trump for placing Saudi Arabia’s interests before those of America's.

Yemen's Houthi fighters attacked two Saudi Aramco oil refineries in Abqaiq and Khurais on Saturday, knocking out more than half the kingdom’s production. The Trump administration quickly blamed Iran for the attacks.

Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and 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. There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 14, 2019

Trump went as far as saying the US was “locked and loaded” for a response at the behest of Saudi Arabia.

PressTV-US 'locked & loaded' for response after Saudi oil strike

President Trump says Washington is waiting for word from the kingdom as to who they believe carried out the attack so the US would know how to proceed.

In a Monday interview, Dr. Paul criticized Trump for saying he was ready to do whatever Riyadh deemed appropriate to whoever it blamed for the attacks.

Trump says “I am ready to go”, but then he says, “I am waiting for a message from Saudi Arabia."

Dr. Paul strongly condemned Trump for letting the Saudis dictate to him what to do and when and where and who the American troops should attack.

“Mr. President, that is not putting America first. That is putting somebody else first,” he said.

Dr. Paul said the confusion surrounding the attacks raised a quite appropriate question.

"Could it be a false flag? That’s been known to happen so many times," he reminded.

"Somebody does something, and somebody else even wants the credit for it for other reasons, then it confuses things," he said.

Tehran has dismissed claims against Iran for the attacks on Aramco's oil facilities as "maximum deceit" to hide US' failure in its "maximum pressure" plot against the nation.

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