DAMMAM: The United States is planning to send a large number of additional forces, possibly thousands, to Saudi Arabia following the September 14 attack on the kingdom’s oil facilities, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters news agency on Friday.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The sources did not specify exactly how many troops would be deployed or specify whether they would be replacing any other US forces that might be departing elsewhere in the region in the coming weeks or months.
The Pentagon has yet to announce, for example, whether it will replace the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group when it eventually wraps up its deployment to the Middle East.
One of the sources said the US was also considering deploying additional air defences to Saudi Arabia. That could not be immediately confirmed by Reuters, however.
The deployment is part of a series of what the US has described as defensive moves following the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities last month, which rattled global energy markets and exposed major gaps in Saudi Arabia’s air defences.
The US and Saudi Arabia, as well as several European countries, have blamed Iran for the attacks, allegations Tehran denies.
Following the attacks, the Pentagon announced last month it would deploy additional troops and military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arabi Emirates to beef up security in the region. At the time, Pentagon officials did not release details of the plans, but it was believed the US troop deployment would involve a moderate number of forces – not numbering thousands – and would be primarily defensive in nature.
Iran has responded to previous US troop deployments this year with apprehension.
Saudi Arabia’s deputy defence minister said this week he met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper to discuss regional security and military cooperation.
The kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) last month said Riyadh prefers a political solution to a military one, but warned that oil prices could spike to “unimaginably high numbers” if the world does not deter Iran.
Several attacks on oil infrastructure in the Gulf that have occurred in recent months amid heightened tensions across the Middle East.
The US alleged that Iran attacked oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz in June and July, accusations denied by Tehran.
On Friday, an Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea was hit by two suspected rockets on Friday off the coast of Saudi Arabia, raising fears of further escalation in the already-volatile Gulf region.
“Experts believe it was a terrorist attack,” Iran’s Students News Agency (ISNA) reported. It did not say whom Iranian officials suspected of launching the missiles.
“Those behind the attack are responsible for the consequences of this dangerous adventure, including the dangerous environmental pollution caused,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told state TV.
Relations between Washington and Tehran have steadily deteriorated since last year’s nuclear-deal withdrawal by the US.
After pulling out of the landmark accord, the US reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran’s oil and banking sectors in what it calls a “maximum pressure” campaign.
