If U.S. Claims of How the Saudi Oil Attack Went down Are True, Then the Failure to Prevent It Is a Huge Embarrassment

By Business Insider. . .The version of events being advanced by US officials, however — that most of the damage was from cruise missiles launched from Iran — raises the embarrassing question of why the US military was unable to do anything about it.

The airspace around Iran and Saudi Arabia is some of the best-defended and most intensively monitored on earth, thanks to the decades-long buildup of US assets there. But on Saturday those defenses failed to prevent what US officials have said were at least 17 separate strikes. . .

One former US Navy officer, who deployed to the Persian Gulf region twice to operate air-defense systems, said it would be nearly impossible for the US not to notice the attack as it happened or attempt to intercept the weapons.

“It’s very hard to imagine a salvo of 17 shots from Iranian territory not being picked up via some land and sea radars,” said the former officer who asked not to be identified discussing US military capabilities in the region. . .

There has been no evidence that US or Saudi radar systems picked up the incoming attack or that either military attempted to intercept the missiles before they struck the facilities. (Read more from “If U.S. Claims of How the Saudi Oil Attack Went down Are True, Then the Failure to Prevent It Is a Huge Embarrassment” HERE)

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U.S. Satellites Detected Iran Readying Weapons Ahead of Saudi Strike, Officials Say

By NPR. U.S. surveillance satellites detected Iran readying drones and missiles at launch sites in Iran before Saudi oil facilities were attacked on Saturday, according to two Defense Department officials.

The imagery has not been publicly released. The officials tell NPR that U.S. intelligence views the activity as “circumstantial evidence” that Iran launched the strike from its own soil.

Saudi Aramco has said the attacks on its plants in Abqaiq and Khurais were “a result of terrorist attacks with projectiles.” Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack, but U.S. officials have accused Iran of playing a key role.

Iran has denied any involvement.

The two officials say the U.S. Defense Department has sent a forensic team to Saudi Arabia to examine wreckage of drones and missiles used in the attack. Intelligence experts say the outcome of those examinations could provide “compelling and convincing” evidence that Iran was behind the attack. (Read more from “U.S. Satellites Detected Iran Readying Weapons Ahead of Saudi Strike, Officials Say” HERE)

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