Further Friction Emerges in U.S.-Saudi Alliance
WASHINGTON (Kayhan Intl.) -- The U.S. is pulling two Patriot missile batteries and some fighter aircraft out of Saudi Arabia, an American official said Thursday, amid tensions between the kingdom and the Trump administration over oil production.
The official said the decision removes two batteries that were guarding oil facilities in Saudi Arabia but leaves two Patriot batteries at Prince Sultan Air Base in the Saudi desert, along with other air defense systems and jet fighters.
The decision scales back the American presence in Saudi Arabia just months after the Pentagon began a military buildup there to purportedly counter threats from Iran. About 300 troops that staff the two batteries would also leave Saudi Arabia, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
Two other Patriot batteries that are in the Middle East region are also heading home to the U.S., in a planned redeployment for maintenance and upgrades, the Associated Press reported.
It’s not clear, however, whether the ongoing oil dispute or the struggle to parcel out the Patriot systems was the key factor in the U.S. decision to pull systems out of the kingdom, it added.
When Saudi Arabia ramped up oil production and slashed prices this year, Republicans accused the kingdom of exacerbating instability in the oil market, which was already suffering because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The volatility and price crash in oil hurt U.S. shale producers, leading to layoffs in the industry, particularly in Republican-run states.
Some Republican senators warned in late March that if Saudi Arabia did not change course, it risked losing American defense support and facing a range of potential "levers of statecraft” such as tariffs and other trade restrictions, investigations and sanctions.
The U.S. official said a THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense system will also remain in Saudi Arabia. The THAAD complements the Patriots by providing a defense against ballistic missiles traveling outside Earth’s atmosphere.
Over the past eight months, the United States has poured more than 20,000 additional troops into the Middle East after escalating tensions that peaked with the terrorist assassination of Iran’s top commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The Pentagon announced last year that it would begin deploying forces and Patriot batteries to Prince Sultan Air Base, a former U.S. military hub. The move was one of the more dramatic signs of America’s decision to beef up troops in the Middle East.
When Gen. Frank McKenzie, top U.S. commander for the Middle East, visited the base earlier this year, the American troop presence had grown to roughly 2,500. At the time, McKenzie told reporters with him that the base was a key strategic location, but that continued presence of troops and weapons there would depend on other national security needs around the world.
In a further sign of frictions, a U.S. official said on Thursday Persian Gulf Arab states should consider their relationship with the United States when dealing with China, as tensions flare between Washington and Beijing.
Persian Gulf Arab states have developed close ties with Beijing
despite their longstanding relationship with key ally the United States as they seek capital and technology to diversify their economies away from hydrocarbon revenues.
"These (Persian Gulf) states have to weigh the value of their partnership with the United States,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker.
"We want our partner nations to do due diligence,” he told Reuters by phone.
President Donald Trump has blamed Beijing for the coronavirus pandemic and his administration is weighing punitive actions against China over its early handling of the outbreak as economic damage mounts.
A German intelligence report casts doubts on U.S. allegations that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese laboratory and says the accusations are an attempt to divert attention from U.S. failure to rein in the disease, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday there was "a significant amount of evidence” that the coronavirus had emerged from a Chinese laboratory, but did not dispute U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that it was not man-made.
Spiegel said Germany’s BND spy agency had asked members of the U.S.-led "Five Eyes” intelligence alliance for evidence to support the accusation. None of the alliance’s members, the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, wanted to support Pompeo’s claim, it said.
An intelligence report prepared for German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer concluded that the U.S. accusations were a deliberate attempt to divert public attention away from President Donald Trump’s "own failures”.
Deaths in the United States, the epicenter of the pandemic, have averaged 2,000 a day since mid-April.
Several Persian Gulf officials have praised China’s efforts to combat the virus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Beijing has recently stepped up its Middle East diplomacy efforts. It has sent medical experts and supplies to countries around the world, including several Persian Gulf states and Egypt to help combat the disease.
The State Department’s top diplomat for the Middle East said countries in the region should be wary of Chinese aid, which he said was often "predatory”.
Schenker also said there was concern about the participation of Chinese firm Huawei in building part of the 5G infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and the largest American military base in the region.
That would make it "difficult” for American and Persian Gulf forces to communicate, he said.
Huawei has long been a target of the U.S. administration, which says the firm could be exploited by Beijing. China and Huawei have repeatedly denied the accusation.
The U.S. was looking at providing countries with alternatives to dealing with China and their companies, Schenker said, though admitted it was "behind on 5G”. No U.S. firm makes 5G technology.
The official said the decision removes two batteries that were guarding oil facilities in Saudi Arabia but leaves two Patriot batteries at Prince Sultan Air Base in the Saudi desert, along with other air defense systems and jet fighters.
The decision scales back the American presence in Saudi Arabia just months after the Pentagon began a military buildup there to purportedly counter threats from Iran. About 300 troops that staff the two batteries would also leave Saudi Arabia, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
Two other Patriot batteries that are in the Middle East region are also heading home to the U.S., in a planned redeployment for maintenance and upgrades, the Associated Press reported.
It’s not clear, however, whether the ongoing oil dispute or the struggle to parcel out the Patriot systems was the key factor in the U.S. decision to pull systems out of the kingdom, it added.
When Saudi Arabia ramped up oil production and slashed prices this year, Republicans accused the kingdom of exacerbating instability in the oil market, which was already suffering because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The volatility and price crash in oil hurt U.S. shale producers, leading to layoffs in the industry, particularly in Republican-run states.
Some Republican senators warned in late March that if Saudi Arabia did not change course, it risked losing American defense support and facing a range of potential "levers of statecraft” such as tariffs and other trade restrictions, investigations and sanctions.
The U.S. official said a THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense system will also remain in Saudi Arabia. The THAAD complements the Patriots by providing a defense against ballistic missiles traveling outside Earth’s atmosphere.
Over the past eight months, the United States has poured more than 20,000 additional troops into the Middle East after escalating tensions that peaked with the terrorist assassination of Iran’s top commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The Pentagon announced last year that it would begin deploying forces and Patriot batteries to Prince Sultan Air Base, a former U.S. military hub. The move was one of the more dramatic signs of America’s decision to beef up troops in the Middle East.
When Gen. Frank McKenzie, top U.S. commander for the Middle East, visited the base earlier this year, the American troop presence had grown to roughly 2,500. At the time, McKenzie told reporters with him that the base was a key strategic location, but that continued presence of troops and weapons there would depend on other national security needs around the world.
In a further sign of frictions, a U.S. official said on Thursday Persian Gulf Arab states should consider their relationship with the United States when dealing with China, as tensions flare between Washington and Beijing.
Persian Gulf Arab states have developed close ties with Beijing
despite their longstanding relationship with key ally the United States as they seek capital and technology to diversify their economies away from hydrocarbon revenues.
"These (Persian Gulf) states have to weigh the value of their partnership with the United States,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker.
"We want our partner nations to do due diligence,” he told Reuters by phone.
President Donald Trump has blamed Beijing for the coronavirus pandemic and his administration is weighing punitive actions against China over its early handling of the outbreak as economic damage mounts.
A German intelligence report casts doubts on U.S. allegations that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese laboratory and says the accusations are an attempt to divert attention from U.S. failure to rein in the disease, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday there was "a significant amount of evidence” that the coronavirus had emerged from a Chinese laboratory, but did not dispute U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that it was not man-made.
Spiegel said Germany’s BND spy agency had asked members of the U.S.-led "Five Eyes” intelligence alliance for evidence to support the accusation. None of the alliance’s members, the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, wanted to support Pompeo’s claim, it said.
An intelligence report prepared for German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer concluded that the U.S. accusations were a deliberate attempt to divert public attention away from President Donald Trump’s "own failures”.
Deaths in the United States, the epicenter of the pandemic, have averaged 2,000 a day since mid-April.
Several Persian Gulf officials have praised China’s efforts to combat the virus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Beijing has recently stepped up its Middle East diplomacy efforts. It has sent medical experts and supplies to countries around the world, including several Persian Gulf states and Egypt to help combat the disease.
The State Department’s top diplomat for the Middle East said countries in the region should be wary of Chinese aid, which he said was often "predatory”.
Schenker also said there was concern about the participation of Chinese firm Huawei in building part of the 5G infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and the largest American military base in the region.
That would make it "difficult” for American and Persian Gulf forces to communicate, he said.
Huawei has long been a target of the U.S. administration, which says the firm could be exploited by Beijing. China and Huawei have repeatedly denied the accusation.
The U.S. was looking at providing countries with alternatives to dealing with China and their companies, Schenker said, though admitted it was "behind on 5G”. No U.S. firm makes 5G technology.
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