US Pulling Patriot Missiles, Warplanes Out of Saudi Arabia Amid Dispute

The Trump Administration has been annoyed at Saudi Arabia’s inability to stabilize oil prices at a level high enough to ensure US producers a profit, [and a higher import bill for the US] and in a move that appears to be retaliation based on those tensions, the US is starting to pull military assets out of Saudi Arabia.

Officials announced on Thursday that the US will be withdrawing two Patriot missile batteries, along with a number of warplanes from the Saudi desert, along with other air defenses. The assets were placed in the area in recent months to “counter Iran.”

The US buildup in Saudi Arabia began after a Yemeni missile hit oil-producing regions [pictured above]. Saudis blamed Iran, and the US sent forces there to “deter” them. US-Iran tensions over Iraq ultimately led to more deployments into the area.

Putting troops there appears to have given the US the leverage to pull troops out of there, and with Saudi efforts to try to get oil prices back up largely unsuccessful, the US appears to have decided that this will coax them into action.

As a security matter, this is unlikely to matter, as there was no indication that Iran or anyone else was really liable to attack the Saudis. This should also mean no real added security premium on the price of oil, though since the US goal is a price increase, any increase from the pullout would be welcomed.

Source: Antiwar.com

10 Comments
  1. Jozo Magoc says

    Saudi Barbaria has better defense plan! With camels and sand dunes!

  2. Canosin says

    they aren’t working anyway…….useless embarrassing crap…it’s no big deal for the headchoppers….it may eventually help to de-escalate the tensions with Iran…..since the US armed forces are told to fuck off of the region…..actually the Persian gulf ……

  3. cechas vodobenikov says

    turkeys require US nukes to protect themselves from the civilized greeks—so do Germans—apparently they fear an invasion by Austria or Poland…colombia is now an associate member of NATO w 9 US military facilities—a US colony where wealth/income disparities rival those found in the USA—fascists ally themselves via NATO…even Finland and Austria refuse to join NATO rejecting amerikan hegemony

  4. voza0db says

    Where are those missiles going?

    1. Mary E says

      Certainly NOT back to the US! Oh,they will find a nice fit somewhere, whether the receiving end is willing or not, they will put them on one or more US military bases….
      in a US hating country.

      1. jm74 says

        Syria most likely because Assad or Putin have indicated by their actions that it is OK for the US to set up bases in Syria. Just a minor thought.

    2. cap960 says

      Certainly not far from Iran.

  5. Mary E says

    The US government might as well just pull all their nukes and missiles (war planes too) out of all the countries that are ‘hosting’ them….many of them are reluctant hosts anyway and want them gone.
    Because there is no threat of war to any of those countries…the US has manufactured the need for a huge defense for these countries using terror and fear of being invaded by Russia. Whaaat?!
    What a bunch of BS! Hegemony is the reason, pure and simple. US: GET OUT

  6. Cody MacKenzie Grendus says

    Interesting how Iran only just launched their first satellite but they somehow were able to hit all targets in Saudi Arabia from Yemen with missiles from soviet times and parts from hobby rc airplane sites with pinpoint satellite accuracy with no satellite maybe just maybe it was to raise oil prices prior to aramcos ipo and Saudi Arabia did it themselves

  7. rightiswrong rightiswrong says

    The US missile defences are a global laughing stock ffs.

    If they were sat in front of an incoming missile, they would probably go in reverse.
    The US has made jack sheet since their friendly Nazi Mr Braun passed away.

    Apart from meat free burgers, lol.

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