Posted on 09/18/2019 9:12:59 AM PDT by gandalftb
Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of what it described as Iranian drones and cruise missiles used in an attack on Saudi oil facilities as undeniable evidence of Iranian aggression.
Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said a total of 25 drones and missiles were launched at two oil plants in last weekends strikes, including what he identified as Iranian Delta Wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and Ya Ali cruise missiles.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Hmmmm. Ya Ali cruise missile debris is pretty conclusive. The same cruise missile was used in the June 12th attack on Abha International Airport in SW Saudi Arabia, identical engine parts are recovered. 3 of the cruise missiles crashed and are recovered.
The Ya Ali missile has only a 700 km range. The Houthis are about 1200 miles away, so that leaves them out.
Also, the Ya Ali is satellite directed. We are reverse tracking the missile tracks, looks like to Iran, to an abandoned SAM site on the Iranian coast, now controlled by the Iranian Guards.
1200 miles = 1200 kms
A rogue unit of the military? It seems Europe and Asia have more to worry about. Iran may just want this.
Saudi Arabia is trying to get the US to do their dirty work.
Don’t like Iran, SA? Then put on your big girl panties, break out the checkbook and build (or hire) a navy and an air force to control the Straights yourself.
Not our oil. Not our oilfields.
Never forget. Fifteen of the Nineteen.
Thats great, Saudis! Excellent intel work! Good going! Now whatcha gonna do about it? For me and mine, Im praying we sit this crap out from now on so you can show us all what genuine bad-asses you are!
OF COURSE the Iranians were behind the attack. Duh. The question is, what should the U.S. do about it? Because I’m not sure losing even one American fighting man’s (or woman’s, these days) life taking out the Iranian regime is worth it, much as I might want to do it on an emotional level. Punching the mullahs’ ticket permanently? Sweet! On behalf of the nearly-as-bad Saudis? Not so fast...
Who was it that said, of the Iraqis and the Iranians during their own war; “It’s a pity both sides can’t lose”? That’s about how I feel about the Saudis and the Persians.
(Veteran of various Persian Gulf area “dust-ups” with those folks going back to the 80s and especially the late 80s, so it’s not like I don’t want some payback, believe me.)
The Saudi facility had air defenses, but they are old and their radar has only about a 20 km range.
Likely the drones came in first and attacked the defense radar with the cruise missile swarm arriving a few minutes later.
Something odd here, the Ya Ali has been thought unable to launch from the ground. To get the range, the weak, but fuel efficient turbo-fan engines require an air launch......
I did notice that gas prices went up $.40 a gallon yesterday.
I say parachute a bunch of American flags like the ones they wave around in Hong Kong. Then wait for the protests. Would that be considered a military attack?
OK, Saudis, now that you have confirmed where they originated, what are you going to do about it? Will you use the vast wealth of the kingdom to make Iran pay an enormous price for attacking your facilities? The world and the Iranian thugs are waiting.
The moron Islamist asshole idiots who took over Persia in 1979 really have no idea what theyre doing
and with all the modern technology to think that they would get away with watching this kind of attack and not have us track everything back to them its laughable
the worst possible thing we could do would be to attack them - thats exactly what - they want they wanna die for allah
obviously the pressure that were putting on them is winning the key here is more isolation more pressure and to pry away all these other idiot countries that still do business with them so that the military turns on Mars thats the only way to get rid of that it Hass to be an internal this basement same thing is true and Venezuela
Interesting to watch this development. A sovereign republic with maximum individual rights for citizens (or a coalition of such) and a commitment to protect those rights, would know what to do. These days...where can that be found?
The next steps rest solely on whether POTUS considers this a a real, ongoing threat to international oil prices/availability and therefore to the US economy.
While it matters greatly that the US is insulated from supply disruption, we are not insulated from price increases and our economy is not insulated from the economic havoc Iran could bring to availability.
Some would argue those are core strategic interests. Other would argue they are not.
“The Saudi facility had air defenses, but they are old and their radar has only about a 20 km range.
Likely the drones came in first and attacked the defense radar with the cruise missile swarm arriving a few minutes later.
Something odd here, the Ya Ali has been thought unable to launch from the ground. To get the range, the weak, but fuel efficient turbo-fan engines require an air launch......”
With the exception of a (very) few of their F-15 pilots, the Saudis can’t fight their way out of a paper bag. I know, because we had them with us during both Desert Shield and Desert Storm. “Pathetic” is about the kindest thing I can say about their abilities. And from everything I’ve seen since (sometimes, fairly up close and personal), they haven’t gotten any better in the intervening years.
All that high-speed, low-drag military equipment they buy from us and other nations in the West is more like the fancy baubles they buy the girlfriends they have secreted away in Paris, or like the Lykan Hypersport exotic cars they collect by the dozen. None of it is of very much use to them, as they don’t have the first idea how to use any of it, nor do they have an inkling on how to close with the enemy and destroy him. Saw it over and over again.
Nope, it would be us — yet again — who’d do the fighting for them. Because they suck at it.
Who Cares?
WE don’t need their Oil or anything related to OIL.
Let them fight their own wars.
God Bless President Trump!
Seems the House of Saud has a problem... and all the nations NOT ENERGY INDEPENDENT too... so the question is: why does this have anything to do with us?
WTF? The Saudis have AWACS! We sold it to them. Put 2 of them up, along with 100 fighters, for a week straight to keep anything else from getting through.
Yep, it looks like the Sauds need to spend some major coin and update their systems...
Sure glad this is their problem and NOT ours...
“I did notice that gas prices went up $.40 a gallon yesterday.”
Not one single ounce of gas on the market yesterday was shipped here or refined here post-drone strike in Saudi Arabia. That’s just intermediaries like fuel distributors, and various gas stations and their chains jacking up the price to make a quick buck. Talk about artificial scarcity...
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