iran s foreign ministry is dismissing the allegations altogether. regardless of who is responsible, the attacks have crippled saudi oil production. the kingdom s capacity has been cut roughly by half. with a look at what we can expect right now with the markets, let s bring in our emerging markets editor john in abu dhabi. john, to get a sense, and also we have nick paton walsh live in tehran. nick, let s start with you. the united states blaming iran despite houthi rebels claiming responsibility. what reaction are you hearing there? reporter: well, in the last hours or so we have heard a stark reaction from iran s foreign ministry. the spokesperson wholeheartedly rejecting secretary of state s mike pompeo s claim that iran was behind this. he said such blind accusations and inappropriate comments in a diplomatic context are in comprehensible and meaningful.
policy begin to follow about or self-combust. perhaps woke up to a degree of alarm maximum pressure appears to be ratcheting back on with one of the ranking u.s. diplomats, the top one, saying they re behind an attack on the oil infrastructure. a lot will be asked what the next step can be diplomatically for iran and for the u.s. to back up its very stark claim this morning. george? nick paton walsh in tehran. and john defterios, thank you both for the reporting. we ll keep in touch with you. the attacks appear to be the latest in a proxy war between iran and saudi arabia. let s speak with nic robertson live. this is certainly a global issue. the saudi general minister said the attacks led to the interruption of 5.7 million barrels. that s about 50% of the company s crude oil supply.
especially the leadership of the rohani guard. certainly, there s no way to think these people would change the way they operation. he says this essentially closes off any channel to diplomacy. the fact that they sanction the top diplomat shows, as he put it, that the united states is blieg wanting it. iranian media is downplaying this. so glad you re there to parse it all for us. fred pleitgen in tehran. thanks, fred. new this morning, house democrats have found evidence of political motive for adding a
an amendment for any war with iraq. meantime, the president targeted iran s supreme leader with new sanctions monday warning u.s. restraint is limited. overnight the iranian foreign ministry said the new sanctions mean the white house is, quote, closing the channel of diplomacy forever. cnn s frederick pleitgen is standing by live in tehran. fred, what s the latest there? reporter: dave, the iranians today are essentially trying to laugh off the new sanctions by the u.s. at the same time, as you said, they re also saying they close off any sort of chance for diplomacy. around this time is always a big time for news lines, for things to happen. for people to say things. here in iran i have breaking news for you guys. iran s president hasan rohani came out and gave a speech here
foreign minister is getting sanctioned by the united states he is making more and more a nelson mandela of iran, dave. quite an analogy there. fred pleitgen, live for us in tehran. thank you, sir. a warning that some commonly prescribed drugs are tied to a 5% higher risk of dementia in older people. a new study in the jama suggests that the link is strongest for certain types of antidepressants, antipsychotics and epilepsy drugs. the increased risk is associated with an adult taking a strong dose of one of these drugs daily for at least three years. it is unclear whether the drugs caused the dementia. the researchers say it is important not to use these.