Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday that the Saudi Arabian government should “eject” U.S. troops from its country, three days after the Iranian military attacked a U.S. air base in Saudi Arabia.
“Iran respects the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and considers it a brotherly nation,” Araghchi wrote on the social platform X. “Our operations are aimed at enemy aggressors who have no respect for Arabs or Iranians, nor can provide any security.
“Just look at what we did to their aerial command. High time to eject U.S. forces.”
In his post, Araghchi also shared a photo of a U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry with its tail broken off and its radar dome on the ground. Multiple outlets previously reported that the aircraft was destroyed in the attack.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have a longstanding partnership dating back more than eight decades. There are five U.S. military bases in the oil-rich country, according to Militarybases.com, and roughly 2,700 service members there, according to NewsNation.
On Friday, an Iranian missile attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia, injured 12 U.S. service members, according to The Wall Street Journal. The paper reported that two service members suffered significant injuries, while 10 were concussed.
The attack also damaged multiple U.S. refueling aircraft, and several unmanned aerial vehicles were hit, the Journal added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC News on Saturday that Russian forces took satellite images of the air base three times in the days before Iran attacked the site.
“I think that it’s in Russia’s interest to help Iranians,” he said. “And I don’t believe — I know — that they share information. Do they help Iranians? Of course. How many percent? One-hundred percent.”
A spokesperson for the Pentagon told The Hill on Sunday that they could not comment on intelligence matters.
