It’s fairly clear that this was a strike at the Saudi oil industry in retaliation for sanctions on Iran. Did the Iranians model their drones on the U.S. drone they seized and refused to give back while Obama was President? Did they finance the strike with the billions Obama showered upon them?
In any case, as U.S. energy output has improved, there is no reason to get involved in a conflict between these two jihad-exporting states. But that doesn’t mean we won’t.
Remember when Iran shot down a drone, saying knowingly that it was in their “airspace” when, in fact, it was nowhere close. They stuck strongly to that story knowing that it was a very big lie. Now they say that they had nothing to do with the attack on Saudi Arabia. We’ll see?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2019
“Saudi Arabia Shuts Down About Half Its Oil Output After Drone Strikes,” by Summer Said and Jared Malsi, Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2019:
Coordinated drone strikes on the heart of the Saudi oil industry forced the kingdom to shut down half its crude production on Saturday, people familiar with the matter said, potentially roiling petroleum prices and demonstrating the power of Iran’s proxies.
Yemen’s Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels claimed credit for the attack, saying they sent 10 drones to strike at important facilities in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province. The production shutdown amounts to a loss of about five million barrels a day, the people said, roughly 5% of the world’s daily production of crude oil.
Officials said they hoped to restore production to its regular level of 9.8 million barrels a day by Monday.
The strikes mark the latest in a series of attacks on the country’s petroleum assets in recent months, as tensions rise among Iran and its proxies like the Houthis, and the U.S. and partners like Saudi Arabia. The attacks could drive up oil prices if the Saudis can’t turn production back on quickly and potentially rattle investor confidence in an initial public offering of the kingdom’s national oil company.
President Trump called Saudi Arabia’s day-to-day ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on Saturday and said the U.S. was ready to “cooperate with the kingdom in supporting its security and stability,” according to the Saudi Press Agency, the official news service.
Prince Mohammed told Mr. Trump that Saudi Arabia “is willing and able to confront and deal with this terrorist aggression,” according to the agency….
elee says
If the Saudis cant defend the infrastructure that western money built there, they should be made to accept defense services from Israel. This would merely codify and formalise the status quo wherein Arabs, Saudi and otherwise, endorse Hitlers genocide while tacitly accepting protection from the only regional power with both the inclination and the means to stand up to Persia……whose minions seem to have repeatedly penetrated Saudi defenses with ridiculous ease.
mortimer says
The Iranian mullahs openly said they wanted to do it …
https://youtu.be/e1d91lQEBjI
Carolyne says
Our Muslim President gave his fellow Muslims, Iran, billions of dollars in cash. It was delivered to Iran in the dead of night on pallets. They now have enough money to keep this up for years. Thanks Hussein.
Angemon says
Indeed.
roberta says
How sweet it would be for them to pound one another back to their stone age, which ended less than 100 years ago.
And how stupid and pathetic of the saudi’s to not be better protecting their only source of income. I guess they are too busy investing in jihad to worry about refineries.
Garfield says
I read SA just got a new oil minister. What was the shakeup that caused that? Also arent they trying to privatise their oil and offer a huge IPO?
Who gets to rebuild the refinery?
What sort of effect is this to Germany France and russia?
The houthis have been a thorn in SA side for a long time. They would really like to be rid of them I would guess. And Yemen….is it still dying of cholera and starving? Or just going down the drain as everyone lays around chewing khat all day?
Idk. But this seems somehow tied to europe and Russia. Some strategy by iran to force europe to defy the US somehow and not help if it becomes neccecary to basically free the iranian people from their cruel mullah leadership and stabilise the middle east?
Also its coincidental that the 911 trials are coming up. And that bin ladens son was confirmed dead and he was married to mohammed attas daughter.
So complicated!
I think the world has had enough of irans terror sponsoring and islamofascists BS though. And the PEOPLE of Iran are desparate to get FREE.
Iran seems to have wierd backchannels and secretive deals probably ongoing since Obama the islamopandering freakshow sent them that cash. I hope it all gets figured out in the right way.
gravenimage says
Alas, most Iranians are pious Muslims.
Kerry Wade says
No they are not. I’ve spoken with many Iranians over the years and the one thing they have in common is a hatred for Islam, a love of their country that was once Persian, and they say most Iranians feel this way.
gravenimage says
Kerry and Natalie, there are some Iranians who have flouted aspects of Islam like forced veiling, and I applaud them. But all too many Iranians *do* enforce Shari’ah at home–this is not just imposed on them by the government. Here is just one video:
“Islamic Republic of Iran: Woman dragged across street, beaten for not wearing hijab as crowd cheers”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/06/islamic-republic-of-iran-woman-dragged-across-street-beaten-for-not-wearing-hijab-as-crowd-cheers
We’ve been hearing that Iranians are poised to overthrow the Mullahs any minute for forty years now–I would *love* to see this, but won’t be holding my breath.
Angemon says
“I read SA just got a new oil minister. What was the shakeup that caused that? ”
My 2 cents: royal family power grab.
gravenimage says
The vast Saudi “royal family” is always jockeying for power, and is full of palace intrigues and some being in and some out with the powers at the top at any given time.
Infidel says
While it’s true that we are energy independent and a net exporter, unfortunately Saudi production runs the speculation price of oil in the global market. If Saudi production drops by 50% as it did here, that ripples onto DOW, NASDAQ, SNP et al
This attack couldn’t have been from Yemen, since the oilfields in question are near Qatar. It probably was Iran or one of their affiliated militias. It’s amazing how weak Saudi Arabia is, if they couldn’t prevent such an attack. Iran can just invade – maybe allying with Qatar and Turkey
I agree that ideally, we should just allow them to slug it out. But that’s not easy if what happens there will shake up all world markets
ntesdorf says
The missiles that hit the Saudi installatins came from the direction of Iran and not from the direction of Yemen. Saudi Arabia and Iran are well placed to pound each other back to the seventh Century if the like.
gravenimage says
Trump suggests Iran is lying when it denies involvement in drone strike on Saudi oil industry
………………..
Y’think?
But we should let these Muslim thugs shoot it out between themselves.
Garfield says
That’s not how it works. It would be NICE if every country could just mind its own business and say no thanks! To aggression and keep it out with a cute little 2 foot tall decorative white picket fence. BUT the globe is small and if you havent noticed huge global companies are like a second form of government. A one world government if you like built on money trade shipping resources. Iran running amok IS our business. The idea of “letting the stupid brown towel heads” duke it out amongst themselves as people with your ideology tend to say things like is just naive. And it also is very dismissive to other cultures. The people in other countries are not trash or filth (except possibly culturally if they….choose a death cult that hates women gays and everyone else) that should sit and squabble like a bunch of “savages”. The idea of “tribalism” is idiotic. It is not “tribalism” that keeps the middle east at war/conflict it is the poison toxic ideology of Islam and after that globalist opression and manipulation. It does effect every country on the globe and it is our business.
Trump is not a globalist (like Jean Claud Junker and his ilk at the UN for instance or G Soros) so I think he is the man to fix the mess iran has started and I hope he does.
gravenimage says
Garfield wrote:
The idea of “letting the stupid brown towel heads” duke it out amongst themselves as people with your ideology tend to say things like is just naive.
……………………….
Of course, this is *utterly false*–I never said any such thing. The claim that I posted this racist quote is simply a lie, as anyone reading my post of Sep 16, 2019 at 7:57 pm can see. I referred to them as Muslim thugs–I did not use the pejorative term “towel heads” nor did I refer to them as “brown” (in fact, there are some Saudis and many Iranians who are whiter than I am).
As for my being naive, I think that pretending that either Saudi Arabia or Iran are our allies is truly naive.
More:
And it also is very dismissive to other cultures. The people in other countries are not trash or filth (except possibly culturally if they….choose a death cult that hates women gays and everyone else) that should sit and squabble like a bunch of “savages”.
……………………….
I referred specifically to Muslim thugs. I have great respect for many other cultures–the murderous culture of Islam is not one of them, though. I have respect for the Persian poetic tradition as well, but that is not what is leading the Mullahs to attack other Muslims.
Tell me what part of the culture of the vicious Mullahs you find it objectionable that I be dismissive of.
More:
The idea of “tribalism” is idiotic. It is not “tribalism” that keeps the middle east at war/conflict it is the poison toxic ideology of Islam and after that globalist opression (sic) and manipulation. It does effect every country on the globe and it is our business.
……………………….
Why does Garfield have to keep lying about me? I mentioned nothing about tribalism here.
And while he is right about the baleful effect of Islam, the idea that globalism is responsible for Jihad us just silly. Jihad–and the bloody Sunni/Shia split–have been around for almost 1400 years now.
Some of the policies of globalism can exacerbate the threat of Jihad–such as pushing unfettered immigration into the West–but they did not create Jihad or internecine Muslim conflict.
Bezelel says
gravenimage, you’re loud and clear to anyone who isn’t predisposed to trifle with you
gravenimage says
Hi, Bezelel. I always try to be respectful if there is an honest difference of opinion–but I do not take kindly to people lying about what I say.
gravenimage says
Garfield is potentially right about one thing, though–sometimes you do have to deal with aggression, lest non-action embolden them.
Bezelel says
The US has been sending Troops to the ME since the Sha was overthrown, For all the Lives and fortune we’ve fed to the monster, we get accused of making things worse. Yes the whole world is affected by the ME turmoil, Maybe it’s time for them to man up for a change. Maybe the rest of the world could at least contribute they’re share.
gravenimage says
What claptrap from Natalie–as though our not invading Iran for the unpopular and ill Shah meant that the CIA was waging Jihad for the Ayatollahs.
And no–while no one at the time knew how bad the Mullahs would be, *no one* thought they would be more pro-American than was the Shah. More witless conspiracy theories–and the idea that everything bad that happens in the world must be because of America.
Does Natalie think that 9/11 was an “inside job” pulled off to make Islam look bad, as well?
Angemon says
“The idea of “letting the stupid brown towel heads” duke it out amongst themselves as people with your ideology tend to say things like”
Huh, what? What “ideology” would that be? And how does others allegedly saying something is supposed to reflect on GI?
“is just naive”
Pakistan and India do it – potshots across the border whenever there’s nothing better to do. Letting regional wannabe-powers sort their place in totem pole amongst themselves sounds much better than having to spend blood and bullion every time one of them steps out of line. Had this been done before and the Saudis were less dependant on the shield of American might (which Obama did his best to do away with), and perhaps this attack, whether by drones or cruise missiles, depending on whom you ask, wouldn’t have happened.
“And it also is very dismissive to other cultures. ”
Only if one assumes they’re incapable or solving their own problems…
“The people in other countries are not trash or filth ”
Who claimed they were?
“that should sit and squabble like a bunch of “savages”.”
If that’s what they want to do, why should we stop them? Sit and squabble sounds far better than flinging rocks at one another. And, FYI, “squabbling lune a bunch of ‘savages’ “” is a time-honored tradition in pretty much all cultures – just look at any political debate, or at the leftist morons who shriek and shout things like “drinking milk is racist”, “the OK sign is a secret symbol of white supremacy”, “I’m going to twist into a pretzel and find a reason to be offended on behalf of these people/culture”, etc.
“The idea of “tribalism” is idiotic. ”
Nah – it’s a core part of human evolution to this day. Only those either deficient in intelligence or enamoured with the idea of living in a global society where anyone, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, thinks and acts the same disregard the role of tribal thinking in human behaviour. Belonging to a group, adhering to an ideology (whether culture, religion or simply a conviction) is meaningful for the individual. “I believe in such and such. That person over there shares my belief, therefore I identify more with them than with anyone who doesn’t share my beliefs”.
“It is not “tribalism” that keeps the middle east at war/conflict it is the poison toxic ideology of Islam”
See how muslims make a difference between them and non-muslims? Different tribes – tribalism. Sunnis and shias? Different tribes – tribalism.
“and after that globalist opression and manipulation. ”
Was there ” globalist opression and manipulation” back in the 7th century? Or the 15th and 16th centuries, when European powers tried to find a route to the Far East that bypassed the Middle East because it was as pleasant back then as it is now…
gravenimage says
+1
Trick_or_Treat says
Meanwhile, Iran accuses Israel of being the culprit. [Yawn!] No, we weren’t expecting to hear that, were we?!
gravenimage says
It’s always the Jooooooooooos…
Brian Hoff says
Saudi want higher oil price as does Iran.
gravenimage says
So? Other nations have trade disagreements, and do not attack each other.
Besides, shouldn’t “Brian Hoff” here–really “DefenderofIslam”–be blaming the Jews for this attack? Sometimes he forgets the Muslim narrative…
Bezelel says
Now would be a good time for Saudi’s to show who’s got more pull in the ME. What are the turks, paki’s, jordanians, qatar, yada yada, Don’t sunni’s vastly outnumber shiite’s ?
Battle says
Robert Spencer hits nail on head. Good.
jca reid says
Maybe the psycho Iranians did this drone strike. Maybe the psycho Saudis did it themselves to get the US Allies to launch an invasion of Iran from Saudi. The US want payback on the Iranians for invading their Embassy in Tehran, back in 1979. It’s the Saudis that are driving this Islamic agenda. Pres. Trump ought to sort out Iran & then sort out Saudi. He ought to forget his business dealings with them. They cannot be trusted, but he won’t. Their taqiyya is always at the bottom of ALL of their dealings.