Tensions between the U.S. and Iran continue to rise as the U.S. accuses Iran of attacking oil reserves in Saudi Arabia at a point when tensions with these countries continues to rise.
On Saturday, several key oil reserves in Saudi Arabia were attacked on 14 September, causing a disruption of about 5 percent of global oil production, which pushed up the cost of oil by a significant degree. Prices have since stabilized to some degree as Saudi Arabia said they were able to restart oil production.
Iran has so far denied any involvement as the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who may have been supplied weapons by Iran, said they were responsible for the attack on the Saudi oil field. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said that the only way talks with U.S. will resume is if the U.S. agrees to talk about renewing the Iran nuclear agreement that Trump pulled the U.S. out of last May.
Saudi Arabia, for their part, have stated they are unsure who is responsible for the attacks, with Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman saying at a press conference Tuesday “we do not know at this moment who caused the attacks on Aramco,” the state-run oil company where the attacks took place.
Since the attacks, the U.S. has said there is evidence that Iran was responsible for the attacks, citing satellite footage of Iran preparing to launch drones and missiles ahead of the attack on Saudi oil reserves. This appears to be the only evidence so far that Iran was responsible, though an unnamed senior U.S. official told CBS News that they know the exact location where Iran fired the missiles from, claiming they came from southern Iran, at the northern end of the Persian Gulf.
Tensions between the two countries have been rising since then, with the U.S. accusing Iran of being the provocator while Iran has done the same, accusing the U.S. of escalating tensions with the two countries. Elsewhere in the Middle East, president Trump also confirmed that the U.S. has killed the son of Usama bin-Laden, Hamza bin-Laden, in a counter-terrorism operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region.
