{"id":93652,"date":"2019-09-19T01:15:04","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T01:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/09\/19\/saudis-couldnt-stop-attack-on-oil-facilities-even-with-top-us-defenses\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:59:22","slug":"saudis-couldnt-stop-attack-on-oil-facilities-even-with-top-us-defenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/09\/19\/saudis-couldnt-stop-attack-on-oil-facilities-even-with-top-us-defenses\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudis couldn\u2019t stop attack on oil facilities, even with top US defenses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Saudi Arabia spent billions to protect a kingdom built on oil but could not stop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/09\/18\/saudi-arabia-says-iran-missiles-drones-attacked-oil-sites\/\" target=_blank>the suspected Iranian drone and missile attack<\/a>, exposing gaps that even America\u2019s most advanced weaponry failed to fill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to deciding whether that firepower should be turned on Iran in retaliation, the Saudis and their American allies must now figure out how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/09\/15\/attack-on-saudi-oil-sites-raises-risks-amid-us-iran-tension\/\" target=_blank>prevent a repeat of last weekend\u2019s attack<\/a> \u2014 or worse, such as an assault on the Saudis\u2019 export facilities in the Persian Gulf or any of the desalination plants that supply drinking water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked Wednesday on his way to Saudi Arabia how it was possible that the kingdom could have dropped its guard, failing to stop any of the low-flying cruise missiles or armed drones that struck the Abqaiq oil processing center \u2014 the largest of its kind in the world \u2014 and the Khurais oil field.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/09\/18\/saudi-arabia-says-iran-missiles-drones-attacked-oil-sites\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19261534036697.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Saudi Arabia says Iran missiles, drones attacked oil sites<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Saudi Arabia alleged Wednesday an attack by drones and cruise missiles on the heart of the kingdom&#039;s oil industry was &quot;unquestionably sponsored by Iran,&quot; naming but not directly accusing Tehran of launching the assault.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even the best air defenses sometimes fail, he replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe want to make sure that infrastructure and resources are put in place such that attacks like this would be less successful than this one appears to have been.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Easier said than done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is an attack of a scale we\u2019ve just not seen before,\u201d Pompeo said. He called the strike \u201can act of war\u201d but not say what military response might follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1012\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19261603007019.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Secretary of State Mike Pompeo\" class=\"wp-image-30840\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19261603007019.jpg.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19261603007019.jpg.jpg?resize=300,202 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19261603007019.jpg.jpg?resize=768,518 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19261603007019.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,691 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Secretary of State Mike Pompeo walks after stepping off his plane upon arrival at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. (Mandel Ngan\/Pool via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Donald Trump, in California on a political fundraising trip, said, \u201cWe know very much what happened.\u201d But he, too, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/09\/17\/iran-says-there-will-be-no-talks-with-us-while-saudi-arabia-aims-to-restore-full-oil-production-within-the-month\/\" target=_blank>noncommittal on whether he would order U.S. military retaliation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saudi Arabia has multiple batteries of advanced U.S. Patriot air defense missiles, which are meant to shoot down hostile aircraft or shorter-range ballistic missiles. Patriots provide \u201cpoint defense\u201d \u2014 not protection of wide swaths of territory \u2014 and it\u2019s unclear whether any were positioned close to the oil sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. provides intelligence and surveillance support to the Saudi military, but that, too, has its limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe don\u2019t have an unblinking eye over the entire Middle East at all times,\u201d said Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. military this summer returned American forces to Saudi Arabia, at Prince Sultan air base south of Riyadh, after an absence of more than a decade. Those forces include a Patriot missile battery. Prince Sultan became a hub of American air power in the Middle East in the 1990s but was abandoned by Washington after Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"844\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5722815.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Prince Sultan Air Base\" class=\"wp-image-93804\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5722815.jpg.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5722815.jpg.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5722815.jpg.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5722815.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,576 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled vehicle is offloaded from a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globe-master III, Prince Sultan Air Base, Kingdom off Saudi Arabia, June, 29, 2019. (Senior Airman Sean Campbell\/Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Saudis clearly were not prepared for this assault, which was unusual in its execution and unprecedented in its targeting. They have largely focused their air defenses on threats from the south, in the direction of Houthi rebels who frequently launch shorter-range missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory. Saudi officials said Wednesday the low-flying cruise missiles and armed drones struck from the north, suggesting they came from Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The strike interrupted the equivalent of about 5 percent of the world\u2019s daily oil supply. Saudi Arabia\u2019s energy minister said Tuesday that more than half of the country\u2019s daily crude oil production that was knocked out by the attack had been recovered and production capacity at the targeted plants would be fully restored by the end of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seth Jones, a counterterrorism expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said \u201calmost no state\u201d could have fully thwarted such an unconventional attack. Saudi Arabia, given the scope of its oil infrastructure, is especially at risk to Iran\u2019s multi-dimensional threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe vulnerability of Saudi Arabia\u2019s &#8230; critical infrastructure is probably impossible to entirely defend,\u201d Jones said, though the Saudis are \u201cfairly well prepared\u201d to defend against conventional threats such as warplanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though the Saudis\u2019 energy minister talked of a rapid bounce-back, the attack seemed to herald a new era of energy vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNever in the history of global energy markets has a malevolent act targeted at energy infrastructure been felt globally,\u201d Pierre Noel, an analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote on Tuesday. He called it the \u201carchetypal event that oil security specialists talk about all the time but never happens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"944\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19261563427102.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"remains of Iranian cruise missiles and drones\" class=\"wp-image-92720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19261563427102.jpg.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19261563427102.jpg.jpg?resize=300,189 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19261563427102.jpg.jpg?resize=768,483 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19261563427102.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,644 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Saudi military officer walks by what was described as the remains of Iranian cruise missiles and drones used in an attack this weekend that targeted the heart of Saudi Arabia&#8217;s oil industry, during a press conference by military spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. (Amr Nabil\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iran denies it was to blame. But its alleged fingerprints on the destruction in the desert point to a trend toward a shadowy form of warfare that can sneak past traditional defenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anthony Cordesman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote this week that the use of cruise missiles and armed drones \u2014 whether by Iran or its Houthi proxies in Yemen \u2014 reflects a move toward unconventional military capabilities, including cyberattack, that defies traditional thinking about defense and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnalysts have been warning about these shifts in the nature of war for years, but the recent strikes on Saudi Arabia have made it clear that they are now at least a limited reality,\u201d Cordesman wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saudi officials on Wednesday said the attack was \u201cunquestionably sponsored by Iran,\u201d naming but not directly accusing its Gulf rival of launching the assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By stopping short of saying the missiles were launched from Iran, the kingdom potentially avoids making a response that could lead to war among the heavyweight countries of the region and the United States. However, not retaliating also carries the risk of leaving Saudi Arabia exposed to further attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For decades, particularly in the wake of Iraq\u2019s invasion of neighboring Kuwait in 1990, the Saudis have spent tens of billions of dollars on foreign military equipment and training \u2014 most of it from the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"998\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6790946693_de92725514_o.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle\" class=\"wp-image-93807\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6790946693_de92725514_o.jpg.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6790946693_de92725514_o.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6790946693_de92725514_o.jpg.jpg?resize=768,511 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6790946693_de92725514_o.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,681 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle departs for a training mission over the Nevada Test and Training Range during Red Flag 12-2 Jan. 27, 2011, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. (Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Between 2014 and 2018, the Saudis ranked as the world\u2019s No. 1 arms importer. In that period, they accounted for 22 percent of the United States\u2019 global arms sales, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In recent years they have acquired some of America\u2019s top-shelf weapons, including F-15 fighter aircraft, Apache attack helicopters and the Patriot air defense systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of that made a difference last weekend in the face of an attack that exposed Saudi weaknesses that might seem obvious in retrospect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just last month, Jones of the Center for Strategic and International Studies gave a presentation that pinpointed Saudi vulnerabilities to Iranian attack, although he focused mainly on the threat of Iranian cyberattacks and ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSaudi Arabia is so vulnerable that defensive measures, while they are important, will not ever solve the problem,\u201d Jones said in his video presentation. The best approach, he said, is deterrence \u2014 making Iran believe it would pay an enormous cost for targeting Saudi oil infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John Hultquist, director of intelligence analysis at FireEye, Inc., a security firm, told The Associated Press he believes that Iran had collected intelligence using cyber intrusions during acts of sabotage against oil tankers in the Gulf region earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFrogmen, drones, third-party proxies and cyberattack are all capabilities Iran can use to turn up the heat,\u201d Hultquist said. \u201cAll of them are on the table right now, and companies operating in the Gulf should take notice and prepare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>AP writers Lolita C. Baldor, Tami Abdollah and Sagar Meghani contributed.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi Arabia spent billions to protect a kingdom built on oil but could not stop the suspected Iranian drone and missile attack, exposing gaps that even America\u2019s most advanced weaponry failed to 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By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Saudis couldn\u2019t stop attack on oil facilities, even with top US defenses - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Saudi Arabia spent billions to protect a kingdom built on oil but could not stop the suspected Iranian drone and missile attack, exposing gaps that even America\u2019s most advanced weaponry failed to fill.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saudis couldn\u2019t stop attack on oil facilities, even with top US defenses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saudi Arabia spent billions to protect a kingdom built on oil but could not 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