Saudi Arabia says drones used to attack its oil facilities were Iranian

[Dennis Donovan]

Source: WaPo

By
Erin Cunningham,
Anne Gearan,
Steven Mufson and
Kareem Fahim
September 16, 2019 at 10:11 a.m. EDT
ISTANBUL — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have threatened additional attacks on Saudi oil installations just days after claiming a crippling assault on facilities in the desert kingdom, the group’s al-Masirah TV reported Monday.

The new threat came as U.S. officials were pointing fingers at Iran and its other proxies around the region and President Trump said the United States was “locked and loaded” and ready to respond.

A Saudi military spokesman said Monday that a preliminary investigation found that the weapons used against the facilities were Iranian, according to Reuters news agency. The spokesman, Col. Turki al-Malki, also said the attack did not originate in Yemen and that investigations were underway to determine the launch location, Reuters reported.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/yemens-houthi-rebels-warn-of-further-attacks-on-saudi-oil-facilities/2019/09/16/e8c75a00-d859-11e9-ac63-3016711543fe_story.html

---

Knew this was coming...

[Freethinker65]

1. Um. Yemen uses Iranian weapons. That is not news.

Iran sells weapons to Yemen.
Yemen typically decides where to use these weapons.

Besides where the drones were originally made, does the US have evidence that the attack came from Iran and not Yemen??


The US sells weapons to many foreign countries.

[The Liberal Lion]

2. Ha evidence

No worries they are in the process of manufacturing whatever evidence necessary to "justify" a strike.

[DENVERPOPS]

5. The U.S. generals

The U.S. generals are already on record saying that they have no evidence the weapons were fired from Iran.

The whole thing is a black flag operation by Trump and Repubs. Just like the operation during Kennedy's administration down in Cuba....

[Maxheader]

7. My first thought...

Maybe they have sat. shots of the drones coming from iran...Even if they do
cheetox better just keep its dwarf hands off...

[NickB79]

13. They're saying the attacks point to a launch from the north, while Yemen is to the east

Basically if the drones flew north from Yemen, then looped back down again, they would have run out of fuel before hitting their targets.

[Igel]

15. Yemen is SW of the targets struck by the drones.

The territory due south of the targets may be Yemeni, but it's Sunni and very much not under Houthi control.

You have to go SW maybe 500 miles to reach Houthi territory proper. Perhaps farther.

Infiltrating SA with transport for the drones would reduce the range, but you'd wonder why they'd circle around. There might be more than just where the drones hit--angle of attack, the sequencing of the individual attacks, etc., in play.

Iran is < 200 miles from the most western target. If by sea, then the distance would be even less. (Any word on Houthi sea capabilities?)


As for the "they were Iranian, but Houthis decide it so Iran is innocent"--does that work with US provisioning of weapons used by Saudis?

[duforsure]

3. From the same people who claimed

They didn't murder Kashoggi.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. So? 90% of all the weapons used in international attacks are

made in the USA.

[yaesu]

6. hey tRump, your lender just gave you orders to bomb Iran. nt

[Fan of Da Bearse]

8. One Word: Khashoggi

Yeah, Saudi Arabia is very credible!

[msongs]

9. none of the 9/11 attackers were from saudi right? nt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

10. Let Cadet Bonespurs and his handsome prince Mohamed Bonesaw go in

Leave the rest of us out of it.

[C Moon]

11. They know that because "IRAN'S DRONE" was written in big black letters with a Sharpie. nt

[TomVilmer]

12. The drone engines are in fact from Germany. Angriff!

[Bradical79]

14. The word of the Trump admin and Saudi Arabia...

a couple of truly trustworthy sources.

If there were solid evidence, I think Trump would've Tweeted it out by now. He exposed our top secret satelite camera just to heckle Iran.

Also, it's not something we should even be considering going to war over anyway.

[Mosby]

16. A good summary of the conflict by senator Chris Murphy

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212467975

[Grins]

18. Country that gets all its weapons from the U.S....

... bitches about another country also getting its weapons from a different country (which, in this case, could be Israel).

I’m sick of the Saudis. And Israel.