On Tuesday, the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea was targeted by a remotely piloted boat packed with explosives, the kingdom said, with the blast sending black smoke into the sky off the coast.
Commercial traffic near the port may have been hit in the assault, suggested by Private security firms.
The information remained insufficient, but the incident comes after a series of attacks on shipping in the wider Middle East region amid a shadow war between Iran and Israel and against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations between Tehran and world powers over Iran’s tattered nuclear deal.
The incident also comes amid the six-year-long Saudi Arabian-led intervention against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The Houthis have in the past used bomb-laden drones and explosive-packed boats in attacks targeting the kingdom. However, the rebels did not immediately claim responsibility.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted Saudi military spokesman Col., Turki al-Maliki, as saying the port was targeted by the drone boat.
“The booby-trapped boat was dealt and destroyed according to the rules of engagement,” the report quoted al-Maliki as saying, without providing evidence to support his claim.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, run by the British navy, simply said it was “aware of reports of an incident” and that investigation was ongoing. Private maritime security firm Dryad Global said it had reports that a ship had been “attacked,” without elaborating.
Maritime security firm Neptune P2P Group reported that black smoke was seen billowing near the south entrance of the Yanbu port.
British maritime security firm Ambrey reported an “incident” off western Saudi Arabia, between the ports of Yanbu and Rabigh. Earlier Tuesday morning, smoke was seen rising from a vessel off the Saudi oil-shipping port of Yanbu, the firm said. Multiple tankers remain anchored or drifting in the area.
Yanbu port control broadcast a message by marine VHF radio, warning vessels to increase their level of alertness and monitor for any suspicious activity, Ambrey said.
The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet declined to immediately comment on the incident.
Yanbu, 870 kilometers (540 miles) west of Riyadh, serves as the endpoint of the kingdom’s crucial East-West Pipeline. It allows crude oil pumped in its eastern fields to be shipped directly via the Red Sea, avoiding the Persian Gulf’s chokepoint at the Strait of Hormuz. Yanbu is also home to an oil refinery that can process 400,000 barrels of crude per day.
Yanbu port control broadcast a message by marine VHF radio, warning vessels to increase their level of alertness and monitor for any suspicious activity, Ambrey said.
The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet declined to immediately comment on the incident.
Yanbu, 870 kilometers (540 miles) west of Riyadh, serves as the endpoint of the kingdom’s crucial East-West Pipeline. It allows crude oil pumped in its eastern fields to be shipped directly via the Red Sea, avoiding the Persian Gulf’s chokepoint at the Strait of Hormuz. Yanbu is also home to an oil refinery that can process 400,000 barrels of crude per day.
The incidents at sea almost always involve the Revolutionary Guard, which reports only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Typically, they involve Iranian speedboats armed with deck-mounted machine guns and rocket launchers test-firing weapons or shadowing American aircraft carriers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of all oil passes.
According to some analysts, the incidents are meant in part to squeeze President Hassan Rouhani’s administration after the 2015 nuclear deal.
They include a 2016 incident in which Iranian forces captured and held overnight 10 US sailors who strayed into the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters.
After Iran negotiates with world powers in Vienna over Tehran and Washington returning to the 2015 nuclear deal, the incident comes in. It also follows a series of incidents across the Middle East attributed to a shadow war between Iran and Israel, which includes attacks on regional shipping and sabotage at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.
Sources: EURO NEWS, AP, RIGHT WING NEWS HOURS