Saudi Arabia seeks action against Iran after oil attack, allies wary
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2022
FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
Saudi Arabia seeks action against Iran after oil attack, allies wary

World+Biz

Reuters
22 September, 2019, 09:15 pm
Last modified: 22 September, 2019, 09:26 pm

Related News

  • Govt issues urgent notice relating to passport of intending Hajj pilgrims
  • Saudi Arabia aims for 70 million tourism visits this year -official
  • Saudi king admitted to hospital in Jeddah for tests
  • Body of a Bangladeshi found in Saudi Arabia goat farm
  • Saudis feel 'let down' by US over Houthi security threats, says senior royal

Saudi Arabia seeks action against Iran after oil attack, allies wary

As it tries to build a coalition, Riyadh is preparing to provide evidence to the UN General Assembly which it says will prove Iran was behind the Sept. 14 drone and missile assault

Reuters
22 September, 2019, 09:15 pm
Last modified: 22 September, 2019, 09:26 pm
Workers are seen at the damaged site of Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, September 20, 2019/Reuters
Workers are seen at the damaged site of Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, September 20, 2019/Reuters

Saudi Arabia will seek to make a case at a global gathering in New York this week for concerted action to punish and deter arch-foe Iran after strikes on Saudi oil plants rattled global markets and exposed the kingdom's vulnerability to attack.

However, even Riyadh's main allies the United States and the United Arab Emirates have little appetite for a conventional military confrontation which may spark a war in the Gulf and drag in other oil producers, diplomats say.

As it tries to build a coalition, Riyadh is preparing to provide evidence to the UN General Assembly which it says will prove Iran was behind the Sept. 14 drone and missile assault which initially drastically affected its oil output, a view shared by Washington. Riyadh says Iranian weapons were launched from the north and that it is working to pinpoint the exact location.

Iran has denied any involvement and vowed to retaliate against even a limited military response. It has criticized the accusations as part of a campaign of "maximum pressure" launched by President Donald Trump on Tehran after he quit a 2015 nuclear pact last year and widened sanctions to choke off Iran's oil exports. Riyadh wants to see more punitive action by the international community.

"This attack is a tipping point. Saudi Arabia will make the case this was a devastating blow and continued threat to the global economy," a Gulf Arab source told Reuters on Sunday.

"If Saudi Arabia can prove without reasonable doubt that Iran was behind it, then world powers could exercise their clout — their pressure, their trade tools, pulling Iran back from its brinkmanship policy," the source said.

Ahead of the UN General Assembly, Riyadh says it wants a peaceful resolution, but if the probe proved the strike came from Iran then "this would be considered an act of war".

Iranian Security Proposal 

In Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that he will present at the General Assembly a plan for "creating security" in the Gulf in cooperation with other regional nations, without providing further details.

Concrete evidence over responsibility for the latest drone attack is likely to be crucial to overcome reservations by European and other powers, who were largely reluctant to join a US-led maritime security coalition after tanker attacks in May and June in Gulf waters were also blamed on Iran. Tehran has also denied involvement in those strikes.

The Sept. 14 attack "was a big escalation, there is a clear problem. But it is a real dilemma of how to react without escalating further," said a Western diplomat. "It is not clear yet what the US wants to do."

France, which is trying to salvage the nuclear deal as Iran scales back its commitments, has urged de-escalation. China and Russia, which hold vetoes in the UN Security Council, have warned against attributing blame without providing proof.

There are divisions among Gulf Arab states. Riyadh and its allies are locked in a dispute with Qatar that has shattered a Gulf military, political and economic alliance.

Differences have also emerged between allies Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia's main partner in the military coalition fighting in Yemen, after the UAE reduced its involvement in the war in June and moderated its tone toward Iran.

Senior Emirati foreign ministry official Anwar Gargash said the UAE will in New York "emphasize the primacy of diplomacy".

The United States has also sent mixed signals.

Trump, who ordered more sanctions and approved sending American troops to bolster Saudi defenses, initially declared Washington was "locked and loaded" to respond, then said there were options short of war. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday the US was looking to build a coalition to achieve a peaceful resolution.

The Pentagon said on Friday it will send more troops to Saudi Arabia and speed up delivery of military equipment to Saudi and the UAE after the strike exposed serious gaps in Saudi air defenses. Rouhani said the presence of foreign forces in the region would create insecurity for oil and shipping.

"I doubt anyone has the appetite for a direct clash between the US and Iran," said Barbara A. Leaf, who was US ambassador to the UAE from 2014-2018 and is now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"It really requires re-establishing deterrence. Clearly there is none now," she told Reuters. "It really depends on the administration ... being clear of purpose and intent."

Top News

Saudi Arabia / Aramco fire

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • What needs to be done now?
    What needs to be done now?
  • File photo of Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya. Picture: CPD
    Fiscal consolidation is a way out
  • Safety net needs to be expanded by minimising corruption 
    Safety net needs to be expanded by minimising corruption 

MOST VIEWED

  • People are given packets of biscuits from a free distributor, while waiting in line to buy kerosene near a Ceylon Petroleum Corporation fuel station, amid the country's economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 7, 2022. Reuters.
    G7 backs debt relief efforts for Sri Lanka - draft communique
  • Russian and US state flags fly in Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region, Russia March 27, 2019. Photo :Reuters
    US and Russian chiefs of staff held phone call, discussed Ukraine - RIA
  • Finland's President Sauli Niinisto addresses a joint news conference with Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson (not pictured) in Stockholm, Sweden on 17 May 2022. Photo: Reuters
    As NATO member, Finland will commit to Turkey's security, Finnish president says
  • Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Beijing, China December 5, 2016. REUTERS/Greg Baker/Pool
    China says it wants to expand BRICS bloc of emerging economies
  • US President Joe Biden walks to board Marine One, before traveling to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware for the weekend, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, US, March 18, 2022. REUTERS/Al Drago/File Photo
    Biden welcomes Finland, Sweden to join NATO, as Turkey balks
  • European Commission Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations Maros Sefcovic speaks during a news conference after a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, in Brussels, Belgium February 21, 2022. REUTERS/Johanna Geron
    EU ambassador to UK says bloc won't change mandate in Brexit talks

Related News

  • Govt issues urgent notice relating to passport of intending Hajj pilgrims
  • Saudi Arabia aims for 70 million tourism visits this year -official
  • Saudi king admitted to hospital in Jeddah for tests
  • Body of a Bangladeshi found in Saudi Arabia goat farm
  • Saudis feel 'let down' by US over Houthi security threats, says senior royal

Features

Sketch: TBS

'Food inflation is an unavoidable consequence of currency devaluation'

13h | Interviews
The open-browser-tabs question also tells an interviewer how much of an internet native the job applicant might be. Photo: Noor-a-Alam

The best question to ask a job applicant

13h | Pursuit
Illustration: TBS

Ugly business: Politics in workplace

13h | Pursuit
Illustration: TBS

‘Do you have insurance?’: Life of a life insurance agent

15h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Putin's strategies to face Nato

Putin's strategies to face Nato

2h | Videos
How many countries have nuclear weapons and how many are there?

How many countries have nuclear weapons and how many are there?

3h | Videos
Dengue fever is rising, so beware

Dengue fever is rising, so beware

3h | Videos
How a university teacher and PHD holder become farmer

How a university teacher and PHD holder become farmer

7h | Videos

Most Read

1
Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge
Bangladesh

Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge

2
Representative Photo: Pixabay.
Bangladesh

Microplastics found in 5 local sugar brands

3
Mushfiq Mobarak. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Panorama

Meet the Yale professor who anchors his research in Bangladesh and scales up interventions globally

4
A packet of US five-dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
Banking

Dollar hits Tk100 mark in open market

5
The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter
Industry

The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter

6
PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire
Crime

PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab