US evidence points to Iran-Iraq launch site for missile attack on Saudi oil facility
US officials revealed evidence Sunday that an attack Saturday on a Saudi oil field and refinery did not come from Yemen as originally supposed.
US officials revealed evidence Sunday that an attack Saturday on a Saudi oil field and refinery did not come from Yemen as originally supposed.
Yemeni rebels struck an oil field and a facility in Saudi Arabia Saturday that the Saudi Aramco said was the biggest in the world.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper blamed Iran for a series of coordinated attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities following a meeting at the White House to brief President Trump on the situation, saying that the Pentagon was considering its options.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that it is increasingly ‘looking like’ Iran was behind an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities over the weekend, but said it was still too early to be sure.
President Trump on Sunday suggested U.S. investigators had ‘reason to believe’ they knew who launched crippling attacks against a key Saudi oil facility, and vowed that America was ‘locked and loaded depending on verification.’
Iran denied on Sunday it was involved in Yemen rebel drone attacks the previous day targeting the world’s biggest oil processing facility and an oil field in Saudi Arabia, just hours after America’s top diplomat alleged that Tehran was behind the ‘unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply.’
Drones launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked the world’s largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia and another major oil field Saturday, sparking huge fires at a vulnerable chokepoint for global energy supplies.
Oil prices surged on Monday, with Brent crude posting its biggest intra-day percentage gain since the Gulf War in 1991, after an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities on Saturday shut over 5% of global supply.
Saudi Arabia has deployed more troops in southern Yemen to try to contain clashes between nominal allies in the Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis that risks further fragmenting the country.
From the minute Hezbollah fired their anti-tank missiles at Israel, the entire Middle East was glued to what might happen next. This is because what is happening in northern Israel pits Iran’s ally against Israel, a key ally of the US, and that has regional implications because Iran’s allies and proxies – from Syria to Iraq and Yemen – are all impacted by how Hezbollah performs and how Israel responds.
From the vast deserts of Saudi Arabia to the crowded neighborhoods of Beirut, a drone war has taken flight across the wider Middle East, raising the stakes in the ongoing tensions between the US and Iran.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pledged Monday to keep their floundering coalition war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels together after an Emirati troop pullout and the rise of the southern separatists they supported.
An Iranian oil tanker held for over a month by British authorities was released Thursday, despite a legal bid by the U.S. to take over the seizure.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Sunday joined a chorus of condemnation of Israel for using force against Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount, after clashes erupted there between the Israel Police and Muslim worshipers earlier in the day.
The annual hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia’s city of Mecca is one of five pillars of Islam that all Muslims who are able to are expected to complete at least once.
Iran on Tuesday declared its intention to further disrupt oil traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, announcing a naval drill to take place with Russia later this year in the disputed waterway.
Iran-backed Huthi rebels say they launched missile and drone attacks on a military parade in Yemen’s southern port of Aden, the headquarters of the Saudi-backed government, that killed more than 30 people.
A series of arms sales by the Trump administration to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia were pushed through Monday, after Republicans and Democrats failed to buoy resolutions blocking the sales against vetoes from Trump.
The Senate failed Monday in a bid to override a trio of vetoes issued by President Donald Trump, allowing the administration to move forward with plans to sell billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Two UN Economic and Social Council resolutions passed last week accused and singled out Israel as the only country violating women’s rights, according to UN Watch, a non-governmental organization.