TEHRAN, Sept 15 (Agencies): An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Sunday that US bases and aircraft carriers in the region were within range of Iranian missiles after the US accused Iran of leading attacks on Saudi oil plants, raising tensions in the Middle East.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group said it attacked two Saudi Aramco oil plants on Saturday at the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, knocking out more than half the Kingdom's output.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of being behind the attacks, ruling out Yemeni involvement and denouncing Tehran for engaging in false diplomacy.
Pompeo, said on Twitter on Saturday that there was no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.
"Everybody should know that all American bases and their aircraft carriers in a distance of up to 2,000 kilometres around Iran are within the range of our missiles," the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps Aerospace Force Amirali Hajizadeh said on Sunday.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency also quoted him saying that "Iran has always been ready for a "full-fledged" war", without mentioning Saturday's attacks in Saudi Arabia.
One of the plants attacked is the world's biggest petroleum processing facility.
US President Donald Trump told Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Washington was ready to work with the kingdom to guarantee its security, according to the White House.
Meanwhile, Iran's First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri said on Saturday that "the United States seeks the collapse of Iranian government through maximum pressure campaign," official IRNA news agency reported.
"Their ultimate goal is the collapse of the Iranian government and their short term goal is to disintegrate the economy of the country," Jahangiri was quoted as saying.
Jahangiri said that "Washington, as a signatory of the Iranian 2015 nuclear deal, unilaterally withdrew from the accord last year and launched an unfair war on Iran by restoration of economic sanctions."
US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the deal in May 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.
The White House has vowed "maximum pressure" campaign to push Tehran to negotiation table for the sign of a new nuclear deal, a curb of Iran's missile program and containment of Iran's influence in the region, which the Islamic republic has rejected.
