Trump: It looks like Iran hit Saudis, no military option yet

President Donald Trump declared Monday it "looks" like Iran was behind the explosive attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.

But he stressed that military retaliation was not yet on the table in response to the strike against a key US Mideast ally.

Oil prices soared worldwide amid the damage in Saudi Arabia and fresh Middle East war concerns.

But Trump put the brakes on any talk of quick military action earlier he had said the US was "locked and loaded" and he said the oil impact would not be significant on the U.S., which is a net energy exporter.

The Saudi government called the attack an "unprecedented act of aggression and sabotage" but stopped short of directly pinning blame on Iran.

Iran denied involvement.

Trump, who has repeatedly stressed avoiding new Middle East wars, seemed intent on preserving room to maneuver in a crisis that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had immediately called Iran's fault.

Pompeo said Saturday, "Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply."
Trump, alternating between aggressive and nonviolent reactions, said the US could respond "with an attack many, many times larger" but also "I'm not looking at options right now."
"You don't want to start a war with Iran that you don't have an idea how you're going to end."
In New York, the new US ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, condemned the attack and said that "emerging information indicates that responsibility lies with Iran."
In a series of tweets after meeting with Trump and other senior national security officials, Esper said the administration was working with partner nations "to address this unprecedented attack and defend the international rules-based order that is being undermined by Iran."
Downplaying any talk of imminent US military action, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, told reporters at the White House that Trump's "locked and loaded" was "a broad term that talks about the realities that" the US is "safer and more secure domestically from energy independence."