Firing a rocket in Iraq’s heavily fortified Green Zone near the U.S. embassy, 72-year-old President Donald Trump put Iran on notice that the U.S. would hold it responsible for surrogate attacks in the region. When Trump ordered the State Department to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group April 8, Iran continued to threaten U.S. interests. Trump backed out of former President Barack Obama’s Iranian Nuke Deal May 8, 2018, re-imposing punitive economic sanctions, preventing Iran from selling oil into world markets. Trump put U.S. allies on notice that starting June 1 that he would enforce economic sanctions on any nation, friend or foe, doing business with Iran. After all these developments came attacks May 12 on four oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, two Saudi and two Norwegian-flagged ships in close proximity to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards [IRGC].
U.S. officials reviewed the intel on the attacks and found that Iran or its surrogates, including Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, were likely responsible for the tanker attacks. Two days later, two oil and natural gas pumping stations were struck in Saudi Arabia, forcing the Kingdom to shutdown facilities for repair. Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attacks May 14, warning Saudi Arabia to stop its military aggression or face more attacks on its military and oil infrastructure. “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States against!” Trump tweeted today. When you add up all the recent attacks on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Saudi and Norwegian-flagged oil tankers and Saudi’s oil-and-gas pumping stations, it all points toward Iran’s Revolutionary Guards or other surrogates, including Yemen’s Houthi rebels getting arms-and-cash from Tehran.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo let his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, know that the U.S. takes recent attacks seriously, prompting a major mobilization in the Persian Gulf. Trump ordered May 5 the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Battle Group to the Persian Gulf equipped with B-52 bombers. “We have made clear over the past two weeks and again underscore that attack on U.S. personnel and facilities will not be tolerated and will be responded to in a decisive manner,” said the U.S. State Department. “We will hold Iran responsible if any such attack are conducted by its proxy forces or elements of such forces, and will respond to Iran accordingly.” Pompeo confirmed that the U.S. will coordinate with the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC], performing “enhanced security patrols” to prevent more attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf or Arabian Sea.
Iran denies any involvement in recent attacks in the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia or Baghdad. Yet there’s no other country in the region with the capability to supply predator drone technology in the Middle East. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not want war in the region nor does it seek that,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir today. Jubeir made clear that if Iran continues its aggression to the Kingdom, with Houthi rebels or any other surrogates, it would have no choice but to defend Saudi interests. U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet announced increase coordination and patrol with the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC], “specifically increasing communication and coordination with each other in support of regional naval cooperation and maritime security operations in the Arabian Gulf.” GCC knows that Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the pipeline attacks.
Head of the Houthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee Mohammed Ali al-Houthi blamed the Kingdom for conflict in the regions, saying, “only [Saudis] know how to support war and destruction,” showing no signs of letting up. Al-Houthi gets his arms-and-cash from Iran to wage war against the Kingdom. Houthi-controlld SABA news agency confirmed today that it was targeting Aramco’s installations and military facilities. When a Norwegian insurer found that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards “very likely” attacked oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, Saudi’s Foreign Ministry took it seriously. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif dismissed the idea that Iran was behind recent attacks in the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia or the recent rocket attack in Iraq’s heavily fortified Green Zone. “We are not pursuing war but we are also no afraid of war,” said Zarif.
Iran faces tightening economic sanctions in the Gulf, watching its oil exports strangled by new economic sanctions. No matter all denials, U.S. and Saudi intel points to Iran as responsible for recent attacks in Baghdad, Saudi and Norwegian-flagged oil tankers and predator drone attacks in the Kingdom. “We want peace and stability in the region but we will not sit on our hand in light of the continuing Iranian attack,” Jubeir said. “The ball is in Iran’s court and it is up to Iran to determine what its fate will be,” warning Tehran that it’s on thin ice. With the Abraham Lincoln carrier battle group steaming toward the Persian Gulf, Iran warned the U.S. that it could strike U.S. naval assets at any time. Iran knows that any attack of the U.S. navy would be met with, as Trump says, a devastating response. Recognizing the growing threat in the region, Exxon-Mobil ordered its personnel out of Iraq.
