IRAN: Saudi Oil Tanker Attacks of Iranian Origin - US Weapons seizure confirms - Analysis

IRAN: Saudi Oil Tanker Attacks of Iranian Origin - US Weapons seizure confirms - Analysis
By Iain Fraser - Consultant Editor, GEOPoliticalMatters.com
Malaga European News & Media Centre, Málaga City (Remote)
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REUTERS: UN Report Links Iran To Attacks On Saudi Oil Tankers

Weapons seized by the U.S. has concluded that they were of both of "Iranian Origin" and according to a trusted source "from the same batch" as those used in various missile attacks carried out by the Yemeni Houthi rebels on a mandate from Tehran on both Saudi Tankers & Infrastructure as well as the Abha International Airport attack injuring 26 civilians according to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his latest report to the Security Council quoted by Reuters.

Reuters said it had seen the yet unpublished report delivered by the UN chief and that several items recovered in U.S. seizures of weapons and related material in November 2019 and February 2020 also came from Iran.

The attacks knocked out half of the kingdom's crude production and fuelled a spike in oil prices. Saudi Arabia, as well as U.S., and European officials, have accused Iran of responsibility for the September 14 bombardment.

The report would represent a change from the last assessment by Guterres in December 2019, when he said the United Nations at that point had been unable to confirm Iran's involvement in drone and cruise-missile attacks on two Saudi oil facilities.

Tehran immediately issued a vigorous rebuttal. In a statement carried by Iran's state media on June 12, the Foreign Ministry denied the allegations, saying they "appear to have been made under political pressure" from the United States and Saudi Arabia. The ministry noted that the report came "at a time when the United States is working to...extend an arms embargo against Iran."

DUBAI — Iran on Friday rejected a United Nations report that said cruise missiles used in attacks on oil facilities and an airport in Saudi Arabia last year were of "Iranian origin", saying it had been drawn up under U.S. and Saudi influence.

Though the report has yet to be made public, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov reiterated Moscow’s view that the UN-imposed arms embargo that is due to expire in October "should not be extended."

Iran on Wednesday called on Russia and China to resist a push by Washington to extend a U.N.-imposed arms embargo that is due to expire in October under Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers.

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the deal in 2018 and his administration has been taking a harder line with the United Nations to extend and strengthen the embargo on Iran, saying lifting it would let Tehran acquire weapons that could fuel conflicts in the Middle East.


About Iain Fraser

Iain Fraser is a Geopolitical Journalist & Risk Analyst based in Malaga City, Spain. He is currently interim CIO at Argus News Group and Consultant Editor at GEOPoliticalMatters.com as well as being an authority contributor to various websites and magazines across the Defence, Cybercrime & European Political sectors. More at https://iainfraserjournalist.blogspot.com or on LinkedIn