Hitting Saudi Arabia’s oil tankers and pipeline with predator drone attacks, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility, prompting the U.S. State Department to order non-essential personnel out of Iraq. Saudi Oil Minister Khaid al-Falih Al Falih called the attacks “cowardly,” but pointed fingers at Iranian backed militias. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack on the two oil tankers and pipeline going from Riyadh to an oil hub on the Red Sea. “This is a message to Saudi Arabia: Stop your aggression.” Said Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Salam. “Our goal is to respond to the crimes they are committing everyday against the Yemeni people,” Since 72-year-old Donald Trump pulled out of the Iranian Nuke Deal May 8, 2018 tensions have escalated between Iran and the U.S. and its No. 1 oil-producing ally in the region, Saudi Arabia. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has sanction countries doing business with Iran.
Only yesterday, Iranian P:resident Hassan Rouhani gave the European Union 60 days to resolve oil sales with Iran or face the Islamic Republic’s re-upping its weapons grade uranium enrichment program. Iran’s threat to produce weapons grade fissile material runs counter to Iran insisting that it’s uranium enrichment program was for “peaceful purposes.” Israeli Prime Minister knew what Iran was up to when he spoke to a joint session of Congress March 8, 2015 warning the U.S. and world of Iran’s nuclear intentions. Yet former President Barack Obama went full steam ahead with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Act AKA Iran Nuke Deal, using the U.N. Security Counsel, including, the U.K, France, Russia, China and Germany, to sign the deal Oct. 28, 2015. Iran received $2 billion in cash and $150 billion in sanctions relief, emboldening the Islamic Republic to finance its aggressive foreign policy, now leading to attack on Saudi’s oil infrastructure.
Over 500 miles from the Yemen front, U.S. and Saudi officials weren’t certain from what staging point Houthis flew the predator drones hitting the Kingdom’s two oil pumping centers. Saudi’s State-owned oil company Aramco said it shutdown the pipeline stretching from Riyadh to the Yanbu port on the Red Sea. To hit Saudi’s pumping stations and oil tanker the drones would have had to fly hundreds of miles, suggesting, they were launched by Iranian positions closer to the pipeline While denied by Tehran, the Houthi rebels could only receive drone equipment from Iran or allow another Iranian-backed Shiite militia like Hezbollah to carry out the attacks. With closer proximity to Iran, it’s possible the drone attacks originated inside Iranian territory. Wherever the drones launched, they were no doubt Iranian-made equipment, technology no other country has in the region.
Ordering non-essential personnel out of Iraq, the Pentagon sees risk to U.S. forces in proximity to Iran. Trump denied reports in the New York Times that the U.S. was deploying 120,000 troops to the region to deal with growing Iranian threat. Intel from the region indicated that Iran or its surrogates, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard {IRGC], were preparing to attack U.S. positions in Iraq and Syria. “U.S. citizens in Iraq are at high risk for violence and kidnapping. Numerous terrorist and insurgent groups are active in Iraq and regularly attack both Iraqi Security Forces and civilians. Anti-U.S. sectarian militias may also threaten U.S. citizen and Western companies throughout Iraq,” said the U.S. State Department. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday that he did not have any “concrete” evidence that Iran was behind the drone attacks in Saudi Arabia, he also didn’t rule it out. Iran has grown more belligerent since Trump began restricting iran’s oil sales, crippling the economy and driving down Iran’ Rial currency to historic lows.
Threatening violence against the U.S., Iran said it would block the Strait of Homuz through which 25% of the world’s oil travels. Trump is less concerned about Iranian threats than surrogates like the IRGC or other insurgent Shiite groups backed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to advance Iran’s agenda. Issuing its warning to non-essential personnel in Iraq, the State Department clear responds to intel related to recent attacks on Saudi oil tankers and pumping installation. No one believes that Yemen’s Houthi rebels have the resources for predator drones and intermediate-range ballistic missiles, something Houthis have fired at Riyadh’s International Airport. As Iran get more desperate, threatening to start uranium enrichment, the White House is taking contingency plans seriously. Fearing a war with Iran, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said a war with Iran would be “idiotic.” Sanders warned that a war with Iran would be far more dangerous than Iraq.
Hitting Saudi oil tankers and oil pumping stations all point to Iran or its surrogates in the Middle East. Trump officials see a growing Iranian threat due to the ongoing sanctions, preventing Iran from selling oil to U.S. allies in the EU and Asia. Threatening to ramp up uranium enrichment activity, Iran exposes its real intentions, even before they signed the Iranian Nuke Deal Oct. 28, 2015. Increasing uranium enrichment activity doesn’t help Iran’s inability under current U.S. sanctions to sell its oil into world markets, except by supplying third parties to move around petroleum branded under different states. Trump’s decision to order a carrier strike force with B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf put maximum pressure on Iran to stop attacking Saudi tanker or oil pumping stations. No one in the Middle East has the drone technology other than Iran to launch attacks on Saudis. Trump wants to put Iran on notice to cease-and-desist destabilizing world oil supplies.
