Edited time: 16 Sep, 2019
16:16, RT News (Russia) https://www.rt.com/op-ed/468935-saudi-oil-field-drone-attack/
Finian Cunningham*
The devastating blitz on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry
has led to a flurry of accusations from US officials blaming Iran. The reason
for the finger-pointing is simple: Washington’s spectacular failure to protect
its Saudi ally.
The Trump administration needs to
scapegoat Iran for the latest military assault on Saudi Arabia because to
acknowledge that the Houthi rebels mounted such an audacious assault on the oil
kingdom’s heartland would be an admission of American inadequacy.
Saudi Arabia has spent billions of
dollars in recent years purchasing US Patriot missile defense systems and
supposedly cutting-edge radar technology from the Pentagon. If the Yemeni
rebels can fly combat drones up to 1,000 kilometers into Saudi territory and
knock out the linchpin production sites in the kingdom’s oil industry, then
that should be a matter of huge embarrassment for
US “protectors.”
American defense of Saudi Arabia is
germane to their historical relationship. Saudi oil exports nominated in
dollars for trade – the biggest on the planet – are vital for maintaining the
petrodollar global market, which is in turn crucial for American economic
power. In return, the US is obligated to be a protector of the Saudi monarchy,
which comes with the lucrative added benefit of selling the kingdom weapons
worth billions of dollars every year.
According to the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute, Saudi Arabia has the world’s third biggest military budget,
behind the US and China. With an annual spend of around $68 billion, it is the
world’s number one in terms of percentage of gross domestic product (8.8 per
cent). Most of the Saudi arms are sourced from the US, with Patriot missile
systems in particular being a recent big-ticket item.
Yet for all that financial largesse
and the finest American military technology, the oil kingdom just witnessed a
potentially crippling wave of air assaults on its vital oil industry. Saudi oil
production at its mammoth refinery complex at Abqaiq, 205 miles (330 kms) east
of the capital Riyadh, was down 50 per cent after it was engulfed by flames
following air strikes. One of the Saudi’s biggest oilfields, at Khurais, also
in the Eastern Province, was also partially closed.
There are credible reports that the damage is much more
serious than the Saudi officials are conceding. These key industrial sites may
take weeks to repair.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
got it half right when he claimed, “Iran launched an unprecedented attack
on the world’s energy supply”.
Yes, it is unprecedented. But Pompeo
and other US officials have most likely got it wrong about blaming Iran.
Some Trump administration officials told US media that “cruise missiles”
were responsible for the giant fireballs seen over the Saudi oil facilities.
One was quoted anonymously as saying: “There’s no doubt that Iran is
responsible for this… there’s no escaping it. There is no other candidate.”
In a hurried effort to substantiate
accusations against Iran, satellite images were released which show what
appears to be the aftermath of the air strike on the Abqaiq refinery complex.
US officials claim the location of the explosions indicate the weapons
originated not from Yemen to the south, but from either Iran or Iraq.
Even the normally dutiful New York
Times expressed doubt about that claim, commenting in its report: “The satellite
photographs released on Sunday did not appear as clear cut as officials
suggested, with some appearing to show damage on the western side of facilities,
not from the direction of Iran or Iraq.”
The accusations made by Pompeo and
others are assertions in place of substantiated claims.
It is noteworthy that President
Donald Trump refrained from openly blaming Iran by name, merely hinting at the possibility.
If Pompeo is so adamant in fingering Iran, why didn’t Trump? Also, the
president made a telling remark when he said he was “waiting for verification”
from Saudi Arabia “as to who they believe was the cause of the attack.”
Again, if US officials are explicitly accusing Iran then why is Trump saying he
wants “verification” from the Saudis?
For its part, Iran has flatly
dismissed the allegations that it had any involvement, saying that statements
by Pompeo were “blind” and tantamount to setting up a conflict.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul
Mahdi also rejected claims that his country’s territory might have been used by
pro-Iranian Shia militants to launch the air strikes.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen have
issued unambiguous statements claiming responsibility for the air raids on
the Saudi oil installations. They were specific that the weapons were drones,
not missiles, adding with details that 10 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were
deployed.
Notably too, most US media reported initially that the attacks were by
drones flown from Yemen. Associated Press reported a level of sophistication in the
attacks whereby drones were used first to disable the US Patriot radar systems
before other UAVs proceeded to execute the air strikes.
It therefore seems that US officials
are attempting to switch the story by blaming Iran. It is reckless scapegoating
because the logical consequence could elicit a military attack against Iran, in
which event Tehran has warned it is ready for war.
The rationale for blaming Iran is
that the Yemeni rebels (which Iran supports politically) are just not capable
of using drones with such dramatic success against the Saudi oil industry. The
culprit must be Iran, so the rationale goes. This is a follow-on from alleged
sabotage by Iran against oil tankers in the Persian Gulf earlier this summer.
However, a timeline shows that the Houthis are more
than capable of launching ever-more powerful ballistic missiles and deeper
penetrating drones into Saudi territory. The rebels have been using drones from
the beginning of the war which the US-backed Saudi-UAE coalition launched on
the southern Arabian country in March 2015.
Over the past four years, the Houthi
aerial firepower has gradually improved. Earlier, the Saudis, with American
defense systems, were able to intercept drones and missiles from Yemen. But
over the last year, the rebels have increased their success rate for hitting
targets in the Saudi interior, including the capital Riyadh.
In May this year, Houthi drones hit
Saudi Arabia’s crucial east-west pipeline. Then in August, drones and ballistic
missiles were reported to have struck the Shaybah oil field near the border
with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as the Dammam exporting complex in
Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
The Yemenis claim they are taking
the war to Saudi Arabia and the UAE after years of relentless air strikes on
their homeland which have resulted in nearly 90,000 dead. A recent UN report censured the US, Britain and France for
possible complicity in war crimes through their military support for the Saudi
coalition.
There must be trepidation among the
monarchs in Saudi Arabia and the UAE that the rebels from war-torn and starving
Yemen are now coming after them with drones that could demolish their oil
economies. What’s more, the much-vaunted American protector is not able to
deliver on its strategic bargain, despite billions of dollars of Pentagon
weaponry. That’s why Washington has to find an excuse by casting Iran as the
villain.
*Finian Cunningham is an award-winning journalist who has
written extensively on international affairs.
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