With Iranian involvement widely suspected in Saturday’s attacks, Mr. Trump faces new questions about his Iran strategy.
By Jessica Donati
Updated Sept. 15, 2019 9:06 pm ET
WASHINGTON—The attacks on Saudi Arabia’s energy-production system thrust President Trump into a fierce foreign-policy crosswind, at a time when his national security team is at its thinnest point in over a year.
With Iranian involvement widely suspected in Saturday’s attacks, Mr. Trump faces new questions about his Iran strategy, with a diminished set of tools available to escalate his “maximum pressure” campaign
of sanctions targeting the country’s economy.
Mr. Trump has supported Saudi Arabia’s leaders in their war against Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, even as U.S. lawmakers have soured on the conflict and grown impatient with the kingdom’s crown prince.
The administration has also levied military threats against Iran, in an effort to rein in its nuclear programs and regional ambitions.
Mr. Trump is close to exhausting options for adding financial pressure on Iran. The Trump administration already has imposed some of the most stringent sanctions ever on Iran’s oil industry, refused to extend oil waivers and threatened secondary sanctions on entities that fail to comply.
It has also already designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization. The IRGC runs Tehran’s ballistic-missile programs and its specialized Quds Force has arranged weapons deliveries and advised proregime militias in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the region.
As an added challenge, the Trump administration’s foreign-policy team has narrowed with the departure of national security adviser John Bolton earlier this week. Mr. Bolton was the chief architect of the Iran strategy and the third national security adviser to leave the White House since 2017. The post of director of national intelligence is vacant, while a new secretary of defense started in July, filling a monthslong vacancy.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a fellow hawk, has been a steady and vocal advocate of the maximum pressure campaign since the U.S. withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran and six world powers. He clashed often with Mr. Bolton and now stands to have more sway over foreign policy than at any time since moving from the Central Intelligence Agency.
On Saturday, Mr. Pompeo delivered the first U.S. response to the attacks on Saudi’s oil output, blaming Iran and asserting there was no evidence the strikes came from Yemen, contrary to claims made by the Houthis there.
“We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran’s attacks. The United States will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and Iran is held accountable for its aggression,” the secretary said on Twitter.
Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy. Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply. There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.
We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran’s attacks. The United States will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and Iran is held accountable for its aggression
It isn’t clear what further measures could be introduced to increase economic pressure on Iran.
The administration may hope that its intelligence tying Tehran to the attacks may convince more European allies to come around to Mr. Trump’s Iran strategy, despite longstanding opposition to his approach. However, on Saturday the response from other signatories to the Iran nuclear deal was slow, with only the U.K. condemning the attack.
Saturday’s attacks crippled Saudi Arabia’s oil production, forcing output to fall to around half its regular 9.8 million barrels a day.
Mr. Pompeo had said earlier this week that Mr. Trump could potentially meet with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, when world leaders converge on New York later this month for the United Nations General Assembly. The prospects of such a meeting now appear unlikely.
Similarly, a French initiative to provide Iran economic relief from U.S. sanctions in return for its full compliance with a multinational nuclear accord seems as doomed as earlier European efforts to mediate a solution.
Mark Dubowitz, the chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank, said this would be the worst time to give Iran sanctions relief as recommended by France, as it would be seen as giving in to blackmail.
“As the Israelis have demonstrated, sometimes only a military response to aggression from the regime in Iran and its proxies creates meaningful deterrence,” he said. “Washington can’t rely just on sanctions as its sole instrument of national power.”
The French embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Trump has previously opted for dialogue over conflict. For instance, he shelved plans, supported by Mr. Bolton, for a retaliatory strike after Iran shot down a U.S. drone in June.
Prominent Republicans on Saturday were calling for a more aggressive response.
Iranian supported Houthi rebels who attacked Saudi oil refineries is yet another example of how Iran is wreaking havoc in the Middle East. The Iranian regime is not interested in peace - they’re pursuing nuclear weapons and regional dominance. https://www.foxnews.com/world/drone-attack-saudi-oil-facility-iran-rebels …
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, took to Twitter on Saturday to call on the Trump administration to prepare to retaliate against Iran for the attack, calling it another example of how the country is wreaking havoc and not interested in peace.
“It is now time for the U.S. to put on the table an attack on Iranian oil refineries if they continue their provocations or increase nuclear enrichment,” Mr. Graham said in a tweet.
Asked whether the U.S. should consider attacking Iranian oil fields, top White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News Sunday: “This president and his national security team and Secretary Pompeo, our nation’s chief diplomat, keep many options on the table.”
She also echoed Mr. Trump’s recent assertion that he might meet with Iran’s Mr. Rouhani in two weeks. “He said he’ll consider it, and the conditions always must be right for this president to make a deal or take a meeting,” Ms. Conway said.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D., NJ.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a tweet Sunday that he strongly condemns the “brazen attacks on Saudi infrastructure and territory. Despite some ongoing policy differences with the kingdom, no nation should be subjected to these kinds of attacks on it soil and against its people.”
Write to Jessica Donati at jessica.donati@wsj.com
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We can't even beat the Taliban in Afghanistan what makes you think we can beat Iran!
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