{"id":12512,"date":"2019-06-17T08:53:29","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T08:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.zalaand.af\/?p=324"},"modified":"2019-06-17T08:53:29","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T08:53:29","slug":"saudi-seeks-oil-supply-protection-as-us-iran-face-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/?p=12512","title":{"rendered":"Saudi seeks oil supply protection as US, Iran face off"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Saudi Arabia called for swift action to secure Gulf energy supplies and joined the United States in blaming Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in a vital shipping route that have raised fears of broader confrontation in the region.<\/p>\n

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Thursday\u2019s tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman exacerbated the antagonistic fallout from similar blasts in May that crippled four vessels. Washington, already embroiled in a standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, has blamed Tehran and Saudi Arabia\u2019s crown prince also accused Iran on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Iran has denied any role in the strikes on the tankers south of the Strait of Hormuz, a major transit route for oil from Saudi Arabia, the world\u2019s biggest crude exporter, and other Gulf producers.<\/p>\n

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Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said there must be \u201ca rapid and decisive response to the threat\u201d to energy supplies, market stability and consumer confidence, his ministry said on Twitter.<\/p>\n

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in an interview with Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, blamed Iran and called on the international community to take a \u201cdecisive stand\u201d against the attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kingdom does not want a war in the region but it will not hesitate to deal with any threats to its people, its sovereignty, or its vital interests,\u201d the crown prince said.<\/p>\n

The US military released a video on Thursday that it said showed Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards were behind the explosions that damaged the Norwegian-owned Front Altair and the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran did do it and you know they did it because you saw the boat,\u201d US President Donald Trump told Fox News on Friday.<\/p>\n

The United States has tightened sanctions on Iran since Washington withdrew from a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and global powers last year. Washington\u2019s stated aim is to drive Iranian oil exports, the mainstay of its economy, to zero.<\/p>\n

Tehran has said that if its oil exports were halted, it could block the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow channel of water separating Iran and Oman through which passes a fifth of the oil consumed globally.<\/p>\n

Oil prices have climbed 3.4% since Thursday\u2019s attacks. Ship insurers said insurance costs for ships sailing through the Middle East have jumped by at least 10%.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia\u2019s energy minister said in Japan at a meeting of energy ministers from the G20 group of nations that the kingdom is committed to ensuring stability of global oil markets.<\/p>\n

Japanese Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said ministers agreed on the need to \u201cwork together to deal with the recent incidents from (an) energy security point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, who pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal under which world powers agreed to ease international sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on Tehran\u2019s nuclear work, said any move to close the Strait of Hormuz would not last long.<\/p>\n

He also said he was open to holding talks with Iran, although Tehran said it had no plans to negotiate with the United States unless it reversed a decision on the nuclear deal.<\/p>\n

Tehran and Washington have both said they have no interest in a war. But this has done little to assuage concerns that the arch foes could stumble into conflict.<\/p>\n

A US official told Reuters a surface-to-air missile was fired from Iranian territory on Thursday morning at a US drone that was near Front Altair following the attack on the tanker. The missile did not hit the drone, the official said.<\/p>\n

Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said the United States was \u201cplanning various contingencies\u201d when asked if more military forces would be sent to the area, but added that the focus was on building an international consensus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also need to broaden our support for this international situation,\u201d he told reporters on Friday.<\/p>\n

As well as blaming Iran for the tanker attacks, Washington has said Tehran was behind May 14 drone strikes on two Saudi oil-pumping stations. Tehran has denied all those charges.<\/p>\n

Britain has backed the United States in blaming Iran for the tanker attacks. On Saturday, Iran summoned the British ambassador to complain about its \u201cunacceptable stance,\u201d ISNA news agency reported.<\/p>\n

Other nations have urged caution. Germany said the video released by the US military was not enough to prove Iran\u2019s role, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation to determine responsibility.<\/p>\n

China and the European Union called for restraint.<\/p>\n

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani renewed Iran\u2019s threat to continue scaling back compliance with the nuclear deal unless other signatories to the pact show \u201cpositive signals\u201d.<\/p>\n

He did not specify what Iran wanted in his comments to a meeting of Asian leaders in Tajikistan.<\/p>\n

France and other European signatories to the nuclear deal have said they wanted to save the accord. But many of their companies have canceled deals with Tehran, under pressure from the United States.<\/p>\n

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Saudi Arabia called for swift action to secure Gulf energy supplies and joined the United States in blaming Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in a vital shipping route that have raised fears of broader confrontation in the region. Thursday\u2019s tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman exacerbated the antagonistic fallout from similar blasts …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2780],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ehsasnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Mohammad-Nabi-organises4.jpg?fit=628%2C355&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbbJo6-3fO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}