KAZAN (TASS) — Unfounded allegations about Iran being involved in the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities are inadmissible, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin said on Monday.

Sergei Naryshkin

Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director
(© Alexei Nikolskiy / Russian Presidential press service / TASS)

Defending Iran without explicitly naming it, he said:

We obviously condemn such actions. However, very clear unbiased evidence of guilt is required. Flimsy allegations about some country, movement or any other force being the initiator of those actions are inadmissible.

The facilities of the national oil company Saudi Aramco in the east of Saudi Arabia were attacked by ten drones on September 14. Yemeni Houthi rebels from the Ansar Allah movement claimed responsibility for the incident. Particularly, the world’s biggest oil refinery near the city of Abqaiq and a refinery near Khurais, where Saudi’s second largest oil field is located, came under the attack. As a result of the attack, the kingdom reduced crude production by 5.7 mln barrels per day from 9.8 mln barrels produced earlier.

The US and Saudi Arabia held Iran responsible for the attacks. Tehran called those charges groundless.