’Sabotage Attack’ on Saudi Oil Tankers Means “Security of Oil Supplies to Consumers All Over the World” at Stake: Saudi Energy Minister
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Four oil tankers were attacked in the Middle East Sunday, leaving no casualties but significant structural damage to the vessels, and possibly confirming reports on Israeli television Friday that had warned of Iran’s intentions to strike back at Saudi oil assets.
The four vessels, two of which had departed from Ras Tanura port in Saudi Arabia and belonged to the Saudi Arabian oil company (Saudi Aramco), were sabotaged near Fujairah emirate, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Although no information has surfaced about the nature of the attacks or their source, they occurred near the tip of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway crucial to world oil trade that Iran controls and has threatened to close in light of recent U.S. sanctions.
The government of the UAE on Saturday denied reports, which seem to have been aired originally on Iranian and Lebanese television, that a series of explosions had occurred at the same port in Fujairah emirate where the ships were later attacked on Sunday.
“The operations at the port are going as normal,” The Fujairah Media Office said in a statement Sunday morning shortly before the ships were waylaid by an unknown object.
President Donald Trump last week extended an olive branch to Iran, asking the government of the Shi’ite Muslim regime to “call me,” an offer to which Iranian Gen. Yadollah Javani responded by firmly declaring that “there will be no negotiations with America,” the Iranian Tasnim news agency reported.
After the U.S. leveled crippling sanctions against Iranian oil exports last month, which move the International Monetary Fund projects will cause 37% inflation and shrink the Iranian economy by 6% this year, U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates not only voiced their support but promised to fill the vacuum in world oil exports left by the Islamic Republic.