DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The US military is exploring the possibility of using a port on the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia and two more airfields in the kingdom amid rising tensions with Iran, the military said on Tuesday.
In describing the work as “contingency” planning, the US military said it had already tested the unloading and transportation of cargo by land from the Saudi Arabian port at Yanbu, a crucial oil pipeline terminal in the kingdom.
Using Yanbu, as well as air bases in Tabuk and Taif along the Red Sea, would give the US military more options along a crucial waterway that is under increasing attack by suspicious mines and drone boat attacks by Iran-backed Hemen Yemeni rebels .
However, the announcement comes at a time when Saudi-American relations remain strained by the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 and the kingdom’s ongoing war in Yemen in the early days of President Joe Biden’s government. Deploying – even temporarily – American troops to bases in the kingdom, which is home to the holy Muslim city of Mecca, could reignite anger among extremists.
U.S. Navy captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for Central Command, said the site assessment has been going on for more than a year, triggered by the September 2019 drone and missile attack on the heart of the Saudi oil industry.
Saudi Arabia and the United States attributed this attack to Iran, which temporarily cut Saudi oil production in half and registered an increase in oil prices. Tehran has denied being involved and the Houthis have claimed the attack, although the drones involved appear to be Iranian-made.
“These are prudent military planning measures that allow temporary or conditional access to facilities in the event of a contingency and are in no way provocative, nor are they an expansion of the US footprint in the region in general or in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in particular, ”wrote Urban.
US Navy General Frank McKenzie, chief of the US Central Command, visited Yanbu on Monday. Defense One and the Wall Street Journal, which traveled with McKenzie to Yanbu, reported for the first time on American planning. Saudi officials did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia has already paid for improvements to the sites and is considering more, said Urban. Tabuk is home to King Faisal Air Force Base, while Taif is home to King Fahd Air Force Base.
The Arab Gulf states are home to a wide range of American military bases, the legacy of the 1991 Gulf War, which saw US allied forces expel Iraq from Kuwait, and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the invasion Iraq in 2003. The United States withdrew its forces from Saudi Arabia after the 9/11 attacks. Osama bin Laden cited its deployment in its attacks on the US
The US Central Command already has an advanced headquarters in Qatar. The 5th US Navy Fleet operates from the island kingdom of Bahrain, off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Kuwait hosts the advanced US Army Central headquarters, while the United Arab Emirates host American airmen and sailors.
These locations also do not include the presence of American troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Former President Donald Trump has also sent the first troops to Saudi Arabia since 9/11 because of concerns over Iran. Some 2,500 American soldiers now operate Patriot fighter jets and batteries at Prince Sultan Air Force Base, to the southeast. of Riyadh.
The addition of these Saudi sites appears to be part of what McKenzie previously described to the US Congress as the “Western Support Network”, a new logistics system designed to prevent bottlenecks, said Becca Wasser, a researcher at the Center for a New American Security.
These locations are unlikely to have troops stationed permanently and could allow the United States to withdraw forces on other bases through this flexibility, she said.
“If we are trying to have a flexible stance where we are not tied to permanent bases, … you will need to support it with a logistics network that can ensure that you flow in people and armaments as needed,” said Wasser.
These contingency plans already exist in the Middle East, like the agreements that grant US forces the right to use bases in Oman under certain circumstances. But the west coast of Saudi Arabia also offers additional distance from Iran, which has been investing heavily in ballistic missiles, as sanctions have blocked it from global arms sales.
The Persian Gulf “would be contested waters in any scenario of armed conflict with Iran, so you look at the places where you would move your forces when they enter the theater in a contested area,” McKenzie was quoted as saying to journalists in Yanbu.
For Iran, additional bases are likely to increase suspicions of its theocratic government. Tensions between Iran and the U.S. remain high after Trump unilaterally withdrew from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018, leading to an increasing series of clashes.
Alireza Miryousefi, spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations, criticized the US action, calling the presence of foreign troops in the Middle East “one of the main reasons for the chaotic and insecure situation in our region”.
“Any ‘contingency for conflict’ with Iran would only make sense if another country intends to attack Iran and we are determined to defend ourselves if we are attacked,” said Miryousefi.
It is not yet clear what Biden’s relationship with Saudi Arabia will look like during his presidency. During the campaign, Biden referred to the kingdom as an “outcast” for Khashoggi’s death.
However, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Arab Gulf remain the main customers of American arms and rely on the United States to guarantee the free flow of oil and goods through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
Riyadh also suffered a mysterious air raid on Saturday, which the United States Department of State under Biden condemned as “an attempt to target civilians”. It is not yet clear whether it was a missile or a drone used in the attack.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who previously targeted Riyadh, denied being involved, although Arab Gulf countries blamed the rebels for the attack. A previously unknown group called the “Brigade of True Promise” said it carried out the attack with “terror drones” without offering evidence to support its claim.
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.