Iranian regime behind Houthi Saudi oil facility strike

IRAN was behind last month’s attacks on two oil facilities in Saudi Arabia which sent the price of oil soaring, according to a report from its opposition-in-exile the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

The UK, US, France and Germany have already blamed Iran for the missile and drone attacks and, while the Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it was responsible, the NCRI said it had intelligence that they were directly ordered by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and were carried out by the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been locked in a decades-old dispute about regional dominance which has been fuelled by their religious differences.

Although they are not at war, they are engaged in a number of proxy wars in the region, such as in Yemen.

Mohammed bin Salman

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has said that a war in the region would result in a spike in oil prices that would impact on the global economy.

He said the world had to deter Iran, but he preferred a political solution rather than a military one.

NCRI spokesperson Shahin Gobadi said the simultaneous attacks originated inside Iran: “It was a blatant act of war that Khamenei, Rouhani, Zarif, and other regime heads were responsible for in deciding, approving, and implementing.”

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IS THEIR INTEL GOOD?

IT has been accurate in the past and the NCRI said this extensive tranche came from inside the Iranian regime.

Not only does their report name names, but it also lists the types of missiles used, their capabilities, place of manufacture, and details the movements of IRGC personnel they said were involved in the raids.

“These Intelligence reports indicate that the operation resulting in the attack involved the highest levels of the IRGC who directed it at every step,” said the NCRI.

“Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of the regime, directly ordered the commanders of the operation to conduct the attack, and the tactical command headquarters for the operation deployed from Tehran to Khuzestan province (southwest Iran) one week prior to the attack.”

The report said the missiles used in the attack were Ya-Ali cruise missiles, nicknamed Anti-Ali missiles by the Iranian people after the first Shiite Imam, Ali ibn Taleb.

It added that reports from inside the IRGC indicated that their forces were on full alert during and after the attack, with units deployed to suppress protests in various cities and to “fend off the threat to their rule”.

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WHAT ELSE DOES IT SAY?

QUITE a lot. According to the NCRI, the plan was hatched on July 31 at a meeting of the Iranian regime’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), over which Hassan Rouhani, the president and his foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif presided.

Hassan Rouhani

Khamenei initially approved the operation and, after it was planned in detail, the SNSC referred it back to him for final approval. He then ordered IRGC Major General Gholam-Ali Rashid and Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh to begin the operational implementation.

According to the NCRI, Brigadier General Mohammad Fallah, deputy commander of the IRGC air force, took the lead in implementing the attacks from Dastvareh base, in Chitagar, north-west Tehran.

It said specialists were moved into various locations prior to the attacks on September 14, and operational commanders reported back to Rashid a few days later.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

IT’s anybody’s guess, I guess. The clerical regime in Iran isn’t having a great time of it just now, either internationally or domestically.

There are frequent reports of demonstrations inside Iran with people upset about rising inflation, unemployment and the economy generally, along with human rights abuses.

Outside the country, breaches of the 2015 nuclear deal with the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany have seen the regime continue with its nuclear development programme, which has to be a worry for the west.

The NCRI has called for previous UN Security Council resolutions on the nuclear programme to be reinstated as a first step.

It urgently wants to see the eviction of the regime, the IRGC and mercenary militias from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Afghanistan. According to the NCRI, the European Union must place Khamenei, his offices, the IRGC and Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) on the terrorist watch list and the UN Security Council should refer the regime’s own dossier on human rights abuses and atrocities – particularly the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners – to an international court.

IS ANY OF THAT LIKELY?

THE region is certainly a powder keg and the NCRI wants the international community to recognise its right to overthrow the theocracy ruling Iran.

“The clerical regime hopelessly tries to prevent a popular uprising and thwart the expansion of resistance units by using internal suppression and external sponsorship of terrorism,” said Gobadi.

“It seeks to contain the deep-seated anger of society at its disastrous and inhuman rule … As long as this regime exists, it will not cease its aggression.

“The lasting solution for ending religious fascism as the source of all the crises in the Middle East is for the Iranian people to change this illegitimate regime with their popular uprising and with Iran’s organised resistance movement.

“The overthrow of the mullahs’ regime is the aspiration of the vast majority of the Iranian people and is within reach more than ever before.”