US orders defensive boost to Mideast after Saudi attacks

Bloomberg

The US will send a “moderate” number of American troops to the Middle East and additional missile defense capabilities to Saudi Arabia in response to last weekend’s attack on oil facilities, top Pentagon officials said.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that the decision represented a “first step” in the US response. He reiterated US statements that evidence collected to date shows Iran was responsible for the attacks. The briefing by Esper and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, followed a meeting of national security officials at the White House.
“Iran is waging a deliberate campaign to destabilize the Middle East,” Esper told reporters at the Pentagon. He added that the US has shown “great restraint” in responding so far, but called the strike on Saudi Aramco facilities on Saturday a “dramatic escalation.”
Esper and Dunford are still deciding on the specific number of troops and weapons systems but said the personnel deployment will be relatively small, not numbering in the thousands, and that more details would be forthcoming.
In addition to the US missile defense assistance, Esper said “we are calling on many other countries who all have these capabilities to do two things stand up and condemn these attacks” and also contribute equipment.
US and Saudi analyses of the attack have described the strike as complex, involving a mix of low-flying drones and cruise missiles coming from the north.
Saudi Arabia has already taken delivery of Patriot-3 hit-to-kill missiles bought years ago to defend against cruise and ballistic missiles. The kingdom earlier this year finalized a long-sought after contract for Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Thaad missile interceptors designed to intercept ballistic missiles at higher altitudes. It’s not known whether any Thaad batteries have been delivered.
“No single system is going to be able to defend against a threat like” the combination of systems launched against Saudi Arabia last week, Dunford said. “But a layered system of defensive capabilities would mitigate the risk of swarms of drones or other attacks that may come from Iran.” Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who has repeatedly said Iran was responsible for the attack, returned from a two-day trip to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, saying he wanted to begin building a coalition that would organize a response to Iran.
During a news conference, President Donald Trump signaled he’s trying to avoid a military conflict. Trump campaigned in 2016 on getting the US out of Mideast conflicts and he’s repeatedly criticized the second US invasion of Iraq.
“I will say I think the sanctions work, and the military would work,” Trump told reporters. “But that’s a very severe form of winning.” The Treasury Department announced it is sanctioning Iran’s central bank and sovereign wealth fund, a move aimed at squelching any remaining trade the country conducts with Europe and Asia.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that any US or Saudi strike on his country in response to the attacks on the kingdom’s critical oil facilities would lead to “all-out war.”