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Saudi Arabia: An Overview
Saudi Arabia is a culturally-rich country located in the Arabian Peninsula. It is home to the holiest cities of Islam, Mecca, and Medina. The citizens of Saudi Arabia are Arabs and Muslims. The capital city of the country is Riyadh. But the most famous aspect of the country is its abundant reserves of oil and petroleum off the Persian Gulf coast towards the east.
In May 2019, two oil tankers were reported to be sabotaged along the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), however, it was not revealed who led the alleged attack.
What Are the Possible Reasons for the Sabotage?
The news of this attack came amid the growing tensions between the United States and Iran.
What Exactly happened?
- The energy minister of Saudi Arabia stated that two oil tankers were reportedly sabotaged off the UAE coast.
- He told the media that one tanker was on its way back to the country in order to be refilled with crude oil to send to the USA.
- Though the damage done to the two tankers was significant, there were no oil spills or casualties.
- A similar incident was reported earlier by UAE officials, in which four boats bearing the UAE flag were similarly targeted.
- Even one of the Norwegian tankers was attacked under similar circumstances.
Iran Clarifies Its Stand
The Foreign Ministry of Iran shared its concern with respect to the ship attacks and stated that a clear picture should be revealed as to what exactly happened. The Ministry also voiced its concern over the conspiracy to destabilise the security and stability of the Middle East region.
What Are the After-Effects of the Growing Tensions Between the United States and Iran?
The US sent a warning to the ships of this region, that either Iran or its allies could be the reason behind the maritime attacks. Earlier, it had announced that it had sent an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle Eastern region, to clear its stand on Iran.
As a result, Iran announced that it had decided to take back some of the commitments of the nuclear deal of 2015. Iran has also been under scrutiny from the US and the latter has increased the sanctions on Iran.
During the Donald Trump administration in the US, after backing out from the 2915 nuclear deal and re-imposing sanctions on Iran, it expected the European nations to follow suit. The meeting in Brussels for the European countries was meant for the same: they were unable to shrug off the potential risk of impacting the US sanctions on Iran, hence they were reluctant to keep the financial supply chains open for Iran. The European countries finally gave in, as they did not want to be in the midst of the US-Iran conflict.
Conclusion
In this article, we saw an overview of Saudi Arabia and its famous oil reserves. Saudi Arabia is a culturally-rich country located in the Arabian Peninsula. It is home to the holiest cities of Islam, Mecca, and Medina. But the most famous aspect of the country is its abundant reserves of oil and petroleum on the Persian Gulf coast towards the east.
In May 2019, two oil tankers were reported to be sabotaged along the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), however, it was not revealed who led the alleged mysterious attack. Saudi Arabia’s oil minister told the media that one tanker was on its way back to the country in order to be refilled with crude oil to send to the USA. Though the damage done to the two tankers was significant, there were no oil spills or casualties. A similar incident was reported earlier by UAE officials, in which four boats bearing the UAE flag were similarly targeted. The Foreign Ministry voiced its concern over the conspiracy to destabilise the security and stability of the Middle East region.
