Continuing drone and missile strikes at Saudi oil facilities, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels showed that the proxy war to topple the Saudi monarchy has no let up. President Joe Biden has tried to reconcile with Iran, rejoining the July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] AKA the “Iranian Nuke Deal.” Biden’s effort to rejoin the JCPOA is more related to his administration total dismantling of the Trump presidency, finding any excuse, through executive orders or legislation, to undo four years of work under 74-year-old President Donald Trump. Trump irked the P5+1, including the U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany, canceling the JCPOA May 8, 2021 because of Iran’s proxy wars with Saudi Arabia and Israel. Houthi’s March 6 attack on the Ras Tanura oil storage yard demonstrates that Iran’s 81-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khaemenei hasn’t stopped his proxy war.
So when Biden talks of entering into a new Nuke Deal with Iran, there’s even more urgency now to stop Iran’s proxy war against the Kingdom. Biden’s let his foreign policy preference known with his open criticism of Saudi Arabia’s 35-year-old de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russia’s 68-year-old President Vladimir Putin. Attacking the Aramco Abaiq-Khurais oil refinery Sept. 14, 2019, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels knocked out some 25% of the world’s refined oil products, causing petroleum and pump prices to rise. Crude oil prices hit $64.72 today, reflecting the global uncertainty with the latest Houthi attack on the Kingdom. Getting back into any negotiation with Tehran, Biden must make any new Nuke Deal contingent on Iran agreeing to end its proxy war with Riyadh. Biden’s been outraged with Bin Salman over his murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Shooting missiles and hitting Saudi’s oil facilities with predator drones shows the extent of the Iran’s involvement in the proxy war. Attacks on Saudi oil facilities spiked worldwide oil prices, causing pump prices to rise in the U.S. and Europe. “Such acts of sabotage do not only target the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but also the security and stability of energy supplies to the world, and therefore, the global economy,” said an unnamed military spokesman. Bin Salman sees the role Iran plays in hitting the Kingdom’s cities and airports, or, more recently, Aramco oil facilities. Any effort of Biden to enter into a new Nuke Deal with Iran has to be based on its continued proxy war with Saudi Arabia. Hitting Saudi’s oil infrastructure, Khamenei hopes to get Bin Salman back to the bargaining table when it comes to cutting Tehran a better Nuke Deal, allowing Iran to breach nuclear enrichment limits.
Confirming the March 6 attack on Ras Tanura oil storage unit, Houthi spokesman Yahya Sarea said Houthis fired 14 drones and eight ballistic in a “wide operation in the heard of Saudi Arabia,” making no excuses for the ongoing proxy war fueled by Khamenei to make Bin Salman give up his six-year war in Yemen when Iranian-backed Houthis seized the Yemen capital Sanaa Sept. 16., 2014. Saudi Arabia started its campaign against the Houthis March 25, 2015, prompting Iran to escalate predator drone and ballistic missile shipment with which to attack the Kingdom. When Houthi’s scored on big hit on Aramco’s main oil refinery Sept.14, 2019, it completely vindicated Trump’s get-tough foreign policy with Iran. Instead of backing an old U.S. ally in Saudi Arabia, Biden looks poised to give into Iran’s latest demands for more sanctions relief before returning to the JCPOA.
Escalating strikes on Saudi Arabia, Khamenei hopes to win concessions from the U.S. on ending sanctions imposed by Trump. In his quest to slap Trump politically, Biden has turned U.S. foreign policy on its head sanctioning Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation. Biden’s 58-year-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken is repeating the same the same mistakes, maybe worse, than former President Barack Obama that drove U.S.-Russian relations to 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis lows. Blinken wants to act tough but has already damaged U.S. national security, antagonizing Bin Salman and Putin. With the situation in Ukraine deteriorating, what are Biden and Blinken going to do now to save Ukraine’s Donbass region if Putin moves in? No one in NATO believes that the U.S. would do anything differently today than Biden and Obama did when Putin invaded Crimea March 1, 2014.
Unbridled Iranian-backed Houthi attacks on the Kingdom continue unabated because Biden has signaled to Tehran that he wants back into the JCPOA at all costs. Trump did the right thing breaking off with Iran because of its ongoing proxy wars with Saudi Arabia and Israel. Iran supplies Hamas terrorists in Gaza and Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon all the missiles and drone needed to attack Israel. Yemen, like Somalia, suffers from the worst famine in the horn of Africa, no concern of Iran-backed Houthis seeking only proxy war with the Kingdom. With Biden and Blinken picking fights with Bin Salman and Putin, the U.S. is in a very vulnerable position in the Mideast, Persian Gulf and Horn of Africa. Instead of focusing on trivial pursuits like the late Jamal Khashoggi or jailed Russian dissident Alexi Navalny, Biden and Blinken should do what’s best for U.S. national security, not the liberal press.
