Stanley Holditch
The Iranian President and the Yemeni Houthis are both claiming that the Houthis are responsible for the Saudi Oil attack.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls it an Iranian attack but in the same quote acknowledges that Iran did not directly carry it out, saying “It’s not the case that you can subcontract (emphasis mine) out the devastation of 5% of the world’s global energy supply and think you can resolve yourself of responsibilities.”
To anyone who has followed the U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen this is a very interesting statement. It’s the rhetorical equivalent of a steaming pile of dogshit he just planted his foot in.
The U.S. is currently providing billions of dollars of arms support to Saudi Arabia for use against the Yemeni Houthis, who are backed by Iran. This support has led to over 17,000 civilian deaths and has left over 17 million people without access to safe water and sanitation. Millions are starving and in danger of dying from it, including 2 million children under the age of five. The U.N. declares Yemen the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
So by Pompeo’s own words, the U.S. can not absolve itself of its responsibilities just because, as Trump said, there are no U.S. military personnel fighting alongside Saudi forces in Yemen.
The difference of course is the value we place on the two different things being attacked. The human lives being destroyed by the now 5-year old conflict matter so little to the United States that Trump issued just his second veto of his presidency to override the Congressional resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war.
Oil, on the other hand, has value. Oil, unlike the citizens of the poorest country in the Middle East, has money behind it. And by subcontracting attacks on oil in place of people, Iran has, in the view of Pompeo, seriously fucked up.
