Iraq News Now

An oil pipeline that runs across Saudi Arabia was hit by

drones Tuesday west of its capital of Riyadh, the Saudi energy minister said,

shortly after rebels in Yemen claimed they carried out coordinated drone

strikes against the kingdom, AP reported.

The attacks followed reports of sabotage against oil tankers

in the Arabian Gulf off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, with

tensions rising between the US and Iran.

Oil prices rose Tuesday, with benchmark Brent crude trading

over $71 a barrel, up more than $1 on the day.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih vowed that

production and export of Saudi oil would not be interrupted. In a statement

carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, he called the pipeline attack

“cowardly,” saying that recent acts of sabotage against the kingdom’s vital

installations were targeting not only Saudi Arabia, but also the safety of the

world’s energy supply and global economy.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they launched seven drones

against vital installations in Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen to the north.

Saudi Arabia has been at war with the Houthis and their allies in Yemen since

March 2015, targeting the Iranian-allied rebels with near daily airstrikes.

“This is a message to Saudi Arabia: Stop your aggression,”

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Salam told The Associated Press. “Our goal is

to respond to the crimes they are committing everyday against the Yemeni

people.”

The two oil pumping stations targeted in Saudi Arabia are

over 800 kilometers (500 miles) from Yemen’s northern border with the kingdom.

It wasn’t immediately known where the Houthis launched the drones.

The attacks demonstrated the increased risks in a region

vital to global energy supplies amid heightened tensions following the Trump

administration’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world

powers, and the subsequent reimposition of US sanctions to cripple the Iranian

economy. Iran has since said it would begin enriching uranium at higher levels

by July 7 if world powers failed to negotiate new terms for the deal.

Al-Falih said the drone attacks reaffirm the need of the

international community to confront the activities of groups like the Houthis,

whom he accused of being backed by Iran, Saudi Arabia’s regional rival.

He said the drones had targeted petroleum pumping stations

supplying a pipeline running from its oil-rich Eastern Province to the Yanbu

Port on the Red Sea.

Saudi Aramco, the government-controlled oil company, said

that as a precaution, it temporarily shut down the East-West Pipeline and

contained the fire, which caused minor damage to one pumping station. It added

that Saudi Aramco’s oil and gas supplies have not been affected by the attack.

Saudi Arabia said the two petroleum pumping stations that

were struck by drones are located in the greater region of Riyadh, home to the

landlocked capital. The stations, targeted around the same time early Tuesday,

are located in al-Duadmi and Afif, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of

Riyadh city and 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Riyadh city, respectively.

Saudi Arabia built its pipeline in the 1980s amid fears that

the Iran-Iraq war would cut off shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The 1,200-kilometer (746-mile) pipeline is actually two pipes that have a total

capacity of 4.8 million barrels of crude oil a day, according to the US Energy

Information Administration.

The four oil tankers that were targeted Sunday off the coast

of the UAE’s port of Fujairah were allegedly damaged in what Gulf officials

described as sabotage, although satellite images obtained Tuesday by the AP

showed no visible damage to the vessels.

The MT Andrea Victory, one of the alleged targets, sustained

a hole in its hull just above its waterline from “an unknown object,” its owner

Thome Ship Management said in a statement. Images Monday of the

Norwegian-flagged Andrea Victory, which the company said was “not in any danger

of sinking,” showed damage similar to what the firm described.

Details of the alleged sabotage to two Saudi, one Norwegian

and one Emirati oil tanker remain unclear, and Gulf officials have refused to

say who they suspected was responsible.

Satellite images provided to the AP by Colorado-based Maxar

Technologies showed a boom surrounding the Emirati oil tanker A. Michel,

indicating the possibility of an oil leak. The other three showed no visible

damage from above.

A US official in Washington, without offering any evidence,

told the AP that a US military team’s initial assessment indicated Iran or

Iranian allies used explosives to blow holes in the ships. The official was not

authorized to discuss the investigation and thus spoke on condition of

anonymity.

The US has recently warned ships that “Iran or its proxies”

could be targeting maritime traffic in the region. Washington has deployed an

aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and B-52 bombers to the Arabian Gulf

to counter alleged, still-unspecified threats from Tehran.

Speaking in New Delhi, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad

Javad said he spoke with Indian officials about concerns of “suspicious

activities and sabotage in the region.”

“We announced that we had previously predicted these sorts

of activities aimed at escalating tension in the region,” he said.

United Nations deputy spokesman Farhan Haq called on “all

concerned parties to exercise restraint for the sake of regional peace,

including by ensuring maritime security.”

On Tuesday, Spain temporarily pulled one of its frigates

that was part of a US-led combat fleet from near the Arabian Gulf because of

the mounting tensions. The Ministry of Defense said the Méndez Núñez, with 215

sailors aboard, will not cross the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf with the USS

Abraham Lincoln. The Spanish frigate was the only non-US vessel in the fleet.

The drone strikes on Saudi oil facilities reflect how the

Houthis have expanded their capabilities during the four-year war. The rebels

have targeted Riyadh with missiles and used drones to disrupt air traffic at

Saudi airports near the Yemen border.

The Houthis also have flown into the radar arrays of Saudi

Arabia’s Patriot missile batteries, according to the research group Conflict

Armament Research, disabling them and allowing the rebels to fire ballistic

missiles into the kingdom unchallenged.

Iran has been accused by the US and the UN of supplying

ballistic missile technology and arms to the Houthis, which Tehran denies.

Such drones remain difficult to shoot down with either light

or heavy weapons. Iraqi forces learned this from driving out the ISIS group

from northern Iraq, where the extremists would load drones with grenades or

simple explosives to target their forces.

The US supports Saudi Arabia and its allies in the war

against the Houthis, despite criticism that Saudi-led coalition airstrikes have

killed civilians.