Saudi accuses Iran of ordering Houthi pipeline attack

Saudi Arabia on Thursday accused Iran of ordering an attack on Saudi oil pumping stations that Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militia has claimed responsibility for.

The Houthis, which have been battling a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen for four years, said they carried out Tuesday’s drone strikes against the East-West pipeline, which caused a fire but Riyadh said did not disrupt output or exports.

“The #Houthis confirm day after day that they implement #Iran’s agenda by sacrificing the need of the Yemeni people for the benefit of #Iran. The Houthis are an indivisible part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps… and subject to the IRGC’s orders. This is confirmed by the Houthis targeting facilities in the Kingdom,” the Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al Jubeir said on his official Twitter account.

The drone attack happened two days after four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, were damaged by sabotage off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. The other ships were a Norwegian-registered oil products tanker and a UAE-flagged bunker barge.

“The attack by the Iranian-backed Houthi militias against the two Aramco pumping stations proves that these militias are merely a tool that Iran’s regime uses to implement its expansionist agenda in the region, and not to protect the people of Yemen as the Houthis falsely claim,” said Prince Khalid bin Salman, Deputy Defence Minister of Saudi Arabia.

“The terrorist acts, ordered by the regime in Tehran, and carried out by the Houthis, are tightening the noose around the ongoing political efforts,” added Salman.

The ambassador to Yemen followed up, writing that the Houthis had “made Yemen a platform for Iranian terrorism against Yemenis and their interests, and a tool to attack Saudi Arabia.”