Iran behind UAE attacks

The four ships, including two Saudi tankers, were attacked by “naval mines almost certainly from Iran”, Bolton told a press conference in the UAE capital. “There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind in Washington who’s responsible for this,” Bolton said in a clear reference to Iran. US experts are part of a five-nation team that is investigating the May 12 attacks that damaged the four vessels in the Sea of Oman off the UAE emirate of Fujairah. Two days later Yemen’s Huthi rebels hit a strategic diversionary pipeline in Saudi Arabia with two drones. The east-west pipeline, which has the capacity to carry some five million barrels per day from the oilfields of the kingdom’s Gulf coast to the Red Sea, was shut for two days as a result of the attack. 

Bolton said that there has also been “an unsuccessful attack on the Saudi port of Yanbu a couple of days before the attack on tankers.” Yanbu is Saudi Arabia’s largest oil terminal on the Red Sea and is home to oil refineries and export facilities. Bolton said he would meet Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan as well as his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, to discuss relations and regional tensions. “We are responding and consulting more closely with our allies in the region to discuss what to do next.” “We are trying to be prudent and responsible. We gathered evidence about the nature of attacks on the tankers and the East-West pipeline, and sent additional forces to act as a deterrent.” Washington has reimposed tough sanctions against Tehran and ordered the deployment of 1,500 more troops to the Middle East.