Drone attacks were launched on Saturday against the world’s largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia and a nearby oil field that resulted in significant damage, sparked huge fires, and took the important facility and field offline for at least a few days, potentially causing a major disruption to the global oil supply.
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are fighting the Saudi-backed government in the civil war-wracked nation to the south of Saudi Arabia, claimed credit for the drone attacks on the Saudi facility, but U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pointed the finger of blame past the Houthis and directly toward their backers in Iran as the party responsible for the destruction.
Blaming Iran
Pompeo took to social media with a pair of tweets to let it be known that the U.S. government was holding Iran accountable for what had happened at the oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia and called on the rest of the world to join in condemning the terrible attacks.
“Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while [President Hassan] Rouhani and [Foreign Minister Mohammad] Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy,” he tweeted. “Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply. There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.”
“We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran’s attacks. The United States will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and Iran is held accountable for its aggression,” he added.
Standing with the Saudis
Fox reported that similar drone attacks against Saudi Arabia’s oil-producing facilities had been launched in recent weeks, though none quite as effective at causing chaos and destruction as this most recent strike on the infrastructure.
A United Nations envoy in Yemen called the attacks “extremely worrying” and urged everyone to refrain from engaging in such threatening and potentially destabilizing actions in the already incredibly tense region.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump reportedly spoke by phone with the heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and reiterated a commitment to support the Saudis in the quest to maintain security and stability in the region, specifically with regard to the substantial portion of the global oil market derived from the area.
In a statement to the media, the White House said, “The United States strongly condemns today’s attack on critical energy infrastructure.”
“Violent actions against civilian areas and infrastructure vital to the global economy only deepen conflict and mistrust. The United States Government is monitoring the situation and remains committed to ensuring global oil markets are stable and well supplied,” the statement added.
There is little doubt that this attack will exacerbate overall tensions in the Persian Gulf region amid escalating difficulties between the U.S. and Iran over the latter’s nuclear ambitions.
While it remains to be seen what, if anything, comes from these attacks on Saudi oil production, it is quite clear that the U.S. is holding Iran responsible for those strikes and that any further attempts to disrupt global oil markets or to bring death and destruction to an ally will be met with an appropriate response — which could ultimately include military action.
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