LONDON 23 Sep (ANA) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the United Kingdom will consider taking part in a US-led military effort to bolster Saudi Arabia's defences, as he accused Tehran of being behind this month's attacks on two major oil facilities in the kingdom.

 

The UK had previously held back from attributing blame for the September 14 attacks on the Saudi Aramco plants - responsibility for which was claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels, who have been locked in a war with a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since 2015.

 

The United States and Saudi Arabia have dismissed the Houthis' claim and say Iran was responsible for the attacks, a charge Tehran denies.

 

The Pentagon announced on Friday it would send additional US troops and missile defence equipment to Saudi Arabia and the UAE as part of a "defensive" deployment. Officials said the number of troops was likely to be in the hundreds. 

 

"Clearly, if we are asked, either by the Saudis or by the Americans, to have a role then we will consider in what way we could be useful," Johnson told reporters on Sunday on the plane to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

 

Last month, the UK joined a US-led maritime coalition in the Strait of Hormuz, which Washington said was needed to protect shipping routes in the strategic oil transport chokepoint.

 

He stressed the need for a diplomatic response to the heightened Gulf tensions but said "the UK is attributing responsibility with a very high degree of probability to Iran" for the attacks. 

 

His comments came hours after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned Western powers to "stay away", urging them to leave the security of the Gulf to regional nations led by Tehran.(ANA)

FA/ANA/23 September 2019--------