Another Rant. (See 1 below.)
When he discuses the American character and why we are in decline he is in total sync with what I have been saying for years.
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Israel has never sought to have other's protect them so I assume Trump was interested in helping BIBI regarding the election.
Would Trump appoint Pompeo to two positions? (See 2 and 2a below.).
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If Iran is behind the attack on the Saudi's then, at least, two things must be recognized.
First, the Saudis are incapable of defending themselves and that prove and what the Israelis already know.
Second, an attack by Iran on the Saudis of this nature can only betaken as a declaration of war and Trump may miss having Bolton around. More importantly, it could be one of the biggest mistakes Iran could have made if Trump decides the Israelis are right and something must be done to give Iran a well deserved black eye. (See 3 below.)
The problem is, Trump may be unwilling to resort to a military response. (See 3a below.)
From a political standpoint the Democrats, who have been saying they will shut down fracking, have oil all over their stupid faces.
Stay tuned.
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Dick
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1) You might not have noticed, but the ten year yield is up almost 30 BP at 1.82%. That tells us that the market is more optimistic about the economy, and only factoring in a 25BP cut by the Fed. It also suggests that some capital has moved out of the safe haven of Treasuries and into the stock market, which accounts for the indexes being within less than 1% of the record high. Take note that for all the recession blather in the media and by the Dems, the bond and stock markets are signaling optimism for the rest of the year. A 30BP turn around in the ten year is such a short time is significant. It is also what I had mentioned recently. When you hold very low yielding bonds, you can lose money easily as rates rise. Bonds are not risk free as many like to believe unless you hold them to maturity. And then if you paid over par, which is likely if rates are way down, you lose. Equities continue to be the winner as they pay a 2% +- dividend and they grow in value over time.
Now we have a report from a China expert named Michael Pillsbury, who may be the top expert on China trade outside of government, that there is a deal well along with China. Not done, but progress has been made to resolve major issues. There are a lot of indications some good progress is being made. Trump postponed some tariffs, China just bought boatloads of soy and pork. No way to know, but Trump deferring tariffs is a supportive indication that something is possibly going in a good direction. Also note that the Chinese have stopped nasty rhetoric about Trump. All good signs but likely far from a final deal. You can be sure the Chinese are not coming to DC in October just to have tea. Clearly this can all blow up again, but for the moment the stock market is likely to rise on this more positive news. China has increasing economic pressure, and it is only getting worse. The real data is believed to be much worse than China is reporting, and the move out is accelerating. It feels like a deal of some sort is in the works, and is far along, but it might be just step one of a multi-step series of agreements. If the farm products start to move to export, Trump wins the Midwest.
So now we have a rate cut and more QE from the ECB. It is not likely to make much difference on its own. Rates were already negative. More liquidity thru QE is not likely to do much to get corporations to invest or hire at this point. The underlying structural issues at the banks and sovereigns is still weak and problematic. Until the EU changes its policies and eliminates a lot of the socialistic labor and other rules, there is no incentive for much growth in the EU. The negative rates and QE will drive down the Euro and probably not accomplish any real improvement in the economy, but may create more problems. Then there is Brexit, whatever that might mean. I have not changed my view on investing in the EU, which remains very negative. If there is a trade deal of some nature between the US and China, the EU will just fall further behind as the US and Asia charge forward. Given the lack of any real high tech and digital expertise in the EU compared to China and the US, they will just fall further and further behind, and taxing and fining US tech companies will only serve to incentivize a shift by those companies to do more in Asia and elsewhere. Google, on the other hand, is highly likely to face serious legal problems and some type of breakup. There is simply too much political and voter push for them to get off clean. Fact-Google controls 90% of all search. That means as a small business dependent on internet sales, Google controls your life and profits. They raise the fees to small advertisers and drive many out of business over time. They control political discourse. It is not just Facebook and Twitter. Google controls far too much communication in America and I believe the courts will force some sort of change to break up search in some way.
Now the Dems are proposing to raise cap gains tax to be equal to ordinary income tax rates. It still sometimes boggles the mind how ignorant these guys are. They want it to cover Social Security, but they never get that it would destroy investing and blow up stocks and the economy. Add on all the higher corporate taxes and wealth taxes and other taxes, and the entire capitalist system would be debilitated under Warren or most of the other Dems. .
Real median income rose 3.4% in 2018, the poverty rate dropped .5%, and 2.3 million more people are working. All good trends for consumer spending which increased .4% last month. When the Dems say most are left behind, they ignore these numbers which are far better than under Obama/Biden. It is why there are never any questions on the economy at the debates. If there is a China deal, and USMCA is approved, the Dems lose big on that issue as well. That is why Pelosi refuses to bring it to a vote. However the pressure from corporations and farmers is becoming intense.
I have often lamented that the complete failure by universities to teach any history is a disaster for our future. To quote Milan Kundera, "you begin to liquidate a people by taking away its memory. You destroy its books, its culture, its history,. And then others write other books for it, give another culture to it, invent another history for it. Then the people slowly begins to forget what it is and what it was". That is exactly what is happening to our younger generation. The statues and paintings the left demands be destroyed serve to let us recall how far we have come. If you do not know where the road began, you have no way to know how far you have traveled. It becomes no wonder there is a liking for socialism because the snowflakes have no idea what capitalism has accomplished to provide them the wonderful life they now enjoy. The vast cornucopia of goods online and in stores readily available to them at the click of a mouse. Minorities have no way to appreciate how far civil rights has come, nor how extraordinary it was to have had a black president and black AG. Can you imagine thinking such a thing was even possible a mere 30 years ago. These are just a couple of examples of why there are campus protests instead of appreciation of what has been accomplished. If we are to follow the logic of the students of today, the pyramids should be torn down because they were built by slaves, as were many of the edifices of the ancient world. Should the Jews hate the Italians because the Romans made them slaves. If you have no idea how far along the road you have traveled, you have no idea if you should feel that you have accomplished a great effort and are near your goal, or if you have gone nowhere. Instead you become lost and confused, and then angry out of frustration. So it now is on campus, when there are no historical road signs and mile markers. If we have no reminders of history, al la Joe McCarthy, or the holocaust, we are doomed to repeat the horrors of the past. And that is exactly what we see on campus today. And even at Google, workers protesting helping their own government protect them, or the boycott of Equinox. The violent shutting down of free speech of those the radical left is so afraid to hear because they have no historical context. Then they go online and Google and Facebook use an algorithm to see what someone clicked on, and then that also feeds the person more of the same, further ingraining their invalid beliefs. This is a very dangerous path we are on, and is more reason there will be some type of action against Google and likely Facebook
A recent study by ACTA revealed that 48 of the top 52 schools grant an English BA degree without the student ever having read Shakespeare. We could not graduate high school without that reading. Other studies by ACTA show the students at graduation have no improved critical thinking capability-one of the primary goals of college. In fact, most college seniors know less history than when they graduated high school. Anthony Kronman, former deal of Yale Law, in a recent book, points out that one main purpose of university is to "preserve, transmit, and honor an aristocratic tradition of respect for human greatness." Rockefeller University removed a wall of their former Nobel winners in science because they were all white males. What is left to inspire a black female to aspire to succeed and say, one day I will show you, and I will be placed on that wall. This is who we are turning out into our society to be our future leaders. Really scary.
The US is currently third in the world for murder rate. If you cut out numbers for Chicago, Detroit, DC, St Louis and New Orleans we would be 189 out of 193. If you also eliminated Baltimore it might even be 191 of 193. All these cities are run by liberal Democrats, and most have black police chiefs. It is culture, not racism. The worst thing that happened to black communities was the welfare program that paid women to have babies and get the man out of the house. It ripped apart the old culture of tight black families and now we have 70% of black babies born to single mothers. That creates a lot of the issues we see today in schools and these communities. The old family culture was destroyed. All levels of government have spent trillions on trying to improve the outcomes in low income minority schools over the past 40 years It has been a giant waste of critical capital the country could have used to reduce the deficit with no discernible difference in school outcomes, and it has had no impact on reducing the extraordinary murder rate in these cities.
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2)
President Donald Trump said on Sept. 14 he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a possible “mutual defense treaty” between the United States and Israel.
“I had a call today with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the possibility of moving forward with a Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Israel, that would further anchor the tremendous alliance between our two countries,” Trump wrote.
“I look forward to continuing those discussions after the Israeli Elections when we meet at the United Nations later this month!” he added.
"There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!" Trump said on Twitter.
He said he had also authorized the use of the U.S. emergency oil stockpile to ensure stable supplies after the attack, which shut 5% of world production.
"Based on the attack on Saudi Arabia, which may have an impact on oil prices, I have authorized the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, if needed, in a to-be-determined amount sufficient to keep the markets well-supplied," Trump said.
Oil prices surged more than 15% at the open on Sunday on worries over global supply and soaring tensions in the Middle East. State oil giant Saudi Aramco said the attack on Saturday had cut output by 5.7 million barrels per day.
Earlier in the day, a senior U.S. official told reporters that evidence from the attack, which hit the world's biggest oil-processing facility, indicated Iran was behind it, instead of the Yemeni Houthi group that had claimed responsibility.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi dismissed the U.S. allegation it was responsible as "pointless." A senior Revolutionary Guards commander warned that the Islamic Republic was ready for "full-fledged" war.
"All American bases and their aircraft carriers in a distance of up to 2,000 kilometers around Iran are within the range of our missiles," the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Commander Amirali Hajizadeh as saying.
The U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said on Sunday there were 19 points of impact in the attack on Saudi facilities and that evidence showed the launch area was west-northwest of the targets - not south from Yemen.
The official added that Saudi officials indicated they had seen signs that cruise missiles were used in the attack, which is inconsistent with the Iran-aligned Houthi group’s claim that it conducted the attack with 10 drones.
"There's no doubt that Iran is responsible for this. No matter how you slice it, there's no escaping it. There's no other candidate," the official told reporters.
Riyadh has accused Iran of being behind previous attacks on oil-pumping stations and the Shaybah oil field, charges that Tehran denies. Saudi Arabia has not yet blamed any party for Saturday's strike. Riyadh also says Tehran arms the Houthis, a charge both deny.
Aramco gave no timeline for output resumption. A source close to the matter told Reuters the return to full oil capacity could take "weeks, not days."
Traders and analysts said crude may spike to as high as $100 a barrel if Riyadh fails to quickly bring back supply.
Another source briefed on the developments said Saudi oil exports would continue to run as normal this week thanks to large storage in the kingdom, the world's top oil exporter. It ships more than 7 million barrels daily to global destinations.
Riyadh said it would compensate for the damage at its facilities by drawing on its stocks, which stood at 188 million barrels in June, according to official data. The United States said it was also ready to tap emergency oil reserves if needed.
The Saudi bourse closed down 1.1% on Sunday, with banking and petrochemical shares taking the biggest hit. Saudi petrochemical firms announced a significant reduction in feedstock supplies.
"Abqaiq is the nerve center of the Saudi energy system. Even if exports resume in the next 24 to 48 hours, the image of invulnerability has been altered," Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told Reuters.
'UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK'
According to the U.S. official, 17 structures at Abqaiq suffered damage on their west-northwest facing sides, along with two points of impact at Saudi's Khurais facility.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier that there was no evidence the attack came from Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Houthis for over four years in a conflict widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Muslim rival Iran.
"Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply," he said.
Some Iraqi media outlets said the attack came from there. Baghdad denied that on Sunday and vowed to punish anyone using Iraq, where Iran-backed paramilitary groups wield increasing power, as a launchpad for attacks.
Kuwait, which borders Iraq, said it was investigating the sighting of a drone over its territory and coordinating with Saudi Arabia and other countries. The Cabinet said the prime minister ordered tighter security at vital installations.
Regional tensions have escalated since Washington quit an international nuclear deal and extended sanctions on Iran.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Saturday's attacks and called on all parties to exercise restraint and prevent any escalation.
The European Union warned that the strikes posed a real threat to regional security, Britain called them a "reckless attempt" to disrupt global oil supplies and France said such actions could only worsen the "risk of conflict." Iran's ally Turkey called for the avoidance of "provocative steps."
U.S.-IRAN TALKS
The attack came after Trump said a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was possible at the U.N. General Assembly in New York this month. Tehran ruled out talks until sanctions are lifted.
But Trump appeared on Sunday to play down the chances he might be willing to meet with Iranian officials, saying reports he would do so without conditions were not accurate.
Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Trump that Riyadh was ready to deal with "terrorist aggression." A Saudi-led coalition has responded to past Houthi attacks with air strikes on the group's military sites in Yemen.
The conflict has been in military stalemate for years. The Saudi alliance has air supremacy but has come under scrutiny over civilian deaths and a humanitarian crisis that has left millions facing starvation. The Houthis, more adept at guerrilla warfare, have increased attacks on Saudi cities, thwarting peace efforts.
2)
Trump Says He Discussed Possible Mutual Defense Treaty With Israeli Prime Minister Ahead of Their Elections
By Jim Hayek
President Donald Trump said on Sept. 14 he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a possible “mutual defense treaty” between the United States and Israel.
“I had a call today with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the possibility of moving forward with a Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Israel, that would further anchor the tremendous alliance between our two countries,” Trump wrote.
“I look forward to continuing those discussions after the Israeli Elections when we meet at the United Nations later this month!” he added.
Trump’s call with Netanyahu comes days before Israel’s election, which scheduled to be held on Sept. 17. The timing of Trump’s post is viewed as a move to boost Netanyahu’s bid to remain in office.
The Sept. 17 election will be the second time this year that Israelis will go to the polls after Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government in May. According to the Times of Israel, a final poll shows that Netanyahu’s party right-wing Likud and his centrist opponent’s party Blue and White, led by former armed forces chief Benny Gantz, are in a close race.
Netanyahu responded to Trump’s post by thanking his “dear friend,” adding that he looks forward to meeting Trump at the United Nations to discuss the treaty. The Israeli prime minister also took the opportunity to congratulate Trump on the news about Osama Bin Laden’s son.
“Thank you my dear friend President @realDonaldTrump. The Jewish State has never had a greater friend in the White House. I look forward to our meeting at the UN to advance a historic Defense Treaty between the United States and Israel,” Netanyahu wrote.
“Together, we will continue full steam ahead with our common battle against terrorism. Congratulations on your latest success against Bin Laden’s son. God bless America. God bless Israel,” he added.
White House confirmed that the son of infamous terrorist Osama bin Laden, Hamza bin Laden, had been killed during a counterterrorism operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region.
“Hamza bin Laden, the high-ranking al-Qaeda member and son of Osama bin Laden, was killed in a United States counterterrorism operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region,” Trump said in a statement earlier today.
“The loss of Hamza bin Laden not only deprives al-Qaeda of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group. Hamza bin Laden was responsible for planning and dealing with various terrorist groups,” he added.
Trump did not provide any details regarding the possible defense pact but a treaty of this sort could obligate the United States to come to Israel’s defense if it is attacked.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Sept. 12 that a pact should apply to “defined issues–nuclear threats and the matter of long-range missiles aimed by Iran at Israel.”
“We have means of offense and defense, but this would spare us the need to earmark enormous resources on a permanent basis and for the long-term in the face of such threats,” Katz told Israel’s Ynet TV.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s opponent Gantz slammed the idea of the treaty, calling it a “serious mistake.”
“This is not what we want,” Gantz told a conference in Jerusalem. “We have never asked anyone to get killed for us. We have never asked anyone to fight for us. And we have never asked anyone anyone’s permission to defend the State of Israel.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
2a) Could Pompeo Serve in Role as Trump’s Kissinger?
By BENNY AVNI, Special to the Sun
Soon after President Trump said he’d announce his pick to replace John Bolton as national security advisor this coming week, Washington was abuzz: How about Mike Pompeo?
It may be a good idea.
Between 1973 and 1975, Henry Kissinger served as both secretary of state and national security advisor, becoming President Nixon’s foreign-policy Svengali. This “Kissinger model” may better suit Mr. Trump’s management style than the formula known as a “team of rivals.”
Friends and acquaintances of the president’s often tell me he’s a good listener who likes to hear many points of view before making important decisions. Yet public comments after Mr. Bolton’s ouster show otherwise: While Mr. Trump appreciates some expert advice, he’s quite impatient with too many bickering adults in one room.
Which brings us to Messrs. Bolton and Pompeo, who, before serving Mr. Trump, took similar foreign-policy positions. Both were averse to rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea. Both advocated principled, muscular American foreign policy while recognizing global realities and their limitations. And, yes, both advocated replacing tyrannies that threaten America and our allies with more benign regimes.
Then, as Mr. Pompeo emerged from the shadows of the CIA to become secretary of state, he quickly grasped Mr. Trump’s aversion to the words “regime change.” As top diplomat he adopted, instead, the president’s favorite model — economic “maximum pressure” to force regimes to change behavior.
In internal cabinet consultations, Mr. Bolton — a nuclear-disarmament official in the George W. Bush era — apparently wasn’t as pliant.
Publicly trashing his ousted advisor Wednesday, the president zeroed in on Mr. Bolton’s “Libya model” — words that raised Pyongyang’s ire in 2018. “I don’t blame Kim Jong-un,” Mr. Trump said. “He wanted nothing to do with John Bolton.”
Mr. Bolton’s offending words had nothing to do with the Obama-era ouster killing of Muammar Gadhafi. in 2011 — a nightmarish example of regime change-gone-awry. Rather, they concerned Libya’s 2003 decision to decommission its nascent nuclear program and let international and American inspectors oversee and inspect it.
Yet when Mr. Bolton made this “model” clear in television interviews on the eve of the Trump-Kim Singapore summit, all Mr. Kim heard was regime change — a concept Mr. Bolton never disavowed.
Secretary Pompeo, by contrast, pointedly said he’s “not for regime change” during his April 2018 Senate confirmation as secretary of state. It may have sharply deviated from his past as one of the most hawkish members of Congress on foreign policy, but it was enough for senators — and apparently for Mr. Trump, too.
And on Tuesday, Mr. Pompeo confirmed that a no-preconditions meeting between Mr. Trump and Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, at the United Nations later this month is in the offing.
Mr. Bolton reportedly pushed fiercely against such a powwow. Old Pompeo would have agreed with him, but now he recognizes Mr. Trump’s eagerness to put his deal-making prowess on display, so why not meet an odious adversary.
But wait, no preconditions?
While Mr. Trump limits his demands of Iran to no nukes, Mr. Pompeo is yet to rescind his often-bandied list of 12-point demands. Those include an end to Iran’s presence in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon, its support for terrorists, and hostility toward Israel — and, gasp, dismantling the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards’ ideology and terror-exporting arm.
Such demands amount to, well, if not regime change, at least a call on the Khomeinist regime to shed core ideology and its reason for being.
Without a voice advocating toughness, Mr. Trump may give away too much as he makes deals with tyrants. Yet he may have trouble handling a cacophony of too many voices, so he can do worse than concentrating all advice in the hands of one foreign-policy hawk. For now, and until his signature “You’re fired,” Mr. Trump seems to like and get along well with Mr. Pompeo.
The Kissinger model could work.
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Twitter: @BennyAvni. Mr. Avni is a contributing editor of The New York Sun. This column first appeared in the New York Post. Image: Drawing by Elliott Banfield courtesy of the artist.
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3) Iran’s Return Handshake
An attack on Saudi oil production shows John Bolton was right.
By The Editorial Board
A picture taken on September 15, 2019 shows an Aramco oil facility near al-Khurj area, just south of the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. Photo: fayez nureldine/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Since President Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Islamic Republic has tested U.S. resolve with military escalation across the Middle East. Likely Iranian involvement in attacks on Saudi oil production over the weekend marks a new phase in this destabilizing campaign, and it’s no coincidence this happened as Mr. Trump is considering a softer approach to Tehran.
Saudi Arabia reduced daily oil production by about 5.7 million barrels after strikes against facilities in the country’s east on Saturday. Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed credit, though Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that Iran was responsible and there was “no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.” Iran denies this, but it usually uses proxies to avoid a direct confrontation and there are no other plausible culprits.
This is more than a local dispute between two regional powers. The attacks have caused a roughly 5% reduction in global daily oil production. The Saudis have promised to dip into reserves to offset the losses, but oil prices could rise and harm an already fragile global economy if the Kingdom isn’t able to restore production fast enough.
American shale oil production can take up some of the slack but that would take time. Long-term damage to oil supplies would increase the pressure on the U.S. to ease sanctions on Iranian oil exports, which Mr. Trump has been considering.
The attack continues what is already a hot proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, an important U.S. ally. The extent of the damage raises doubts about how well the Saudis can defend against future drone assaults. Saudi intelligence and air defenses don’t seem up to the job. Saudi revenues would be hurt by a reduction in oil output, and uncertainty will complicate an initial public offering of the country’s national oil company, Aramco.
Even if the Houthis didn’t carry out this attack, Iran is backing their war against an Arab coalition in Yemen. The Houthis have become increasingly aggressive in attacking sites in Saudi Arabia and oil tankers in the Red Sea. If the Saudis cede Yemen to the Houthis, Iran will have won another proxy war, this one on the Arabian peninsula. The Saudis are far from ideal allies, but U.S. Senators who want to end U.S. support for Riyadh should consider the alternative of Iranian regional dominance.
The White House says Mr. Trump spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and pledged U.S. support. But the White House should be contemplating more than words.
The Iranians are probing Mr. Trump as much as the Saudis. They are testing his resolve to carry out his “maximum pressure” campaign, and they sense weakness. Iran shot down an American drone this summer, and Mr. Trump rejected advice for a military response. Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s overseas Quds Force, has historically interpreted such restraint as a signal that he’s winning and can safely escalate.
Mr. Trump is also eager for direct talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and Mr. Pompeo floated a handshake meeting between the two at the coming United Nations General Assembly. Mr. Trump has even contemplated support for French President Emmanuel Macron ’s idea of paying the mullahs a $15 billion bribe for better behavior. The weekend attack is Iran’s return handshake.
U.S. sanctions have hurt Iran’s crude oil exports, but Tehran still earns hundreds of millions of dollars a month from other petroleum products. Senator Lindsey Graham says direct attacks on Iranian oil production should be considered, and the Islamic Republic needs to know that is not off the table.
The Saudi coalition also needs more help interdicting Iranian arms shipments to the Houthis. Americans are understandably wary of deeper involvement in Yemen, but a victory for Iran and the rise of a Hezbollah-like regime in Sana’a will harm U.S. security interests. Think another Syria and Lebanon.
Mr. Trump might also apologize to John Bolton, who warned repeatedly that Iran would take advantage of perceived weakness in the White House. Mr. Bolton resigned last week over policy differences, notably on Iran. The weekend’s events proved the former adviser right. The Trump Administration’s pressure campaign has been working, and abandoning it now would encourage Tehran to take more military risks.
3a)Trump: U.S. is 'locked and loaded' for potential response to Saudi attack
By Reuters
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States was "locked and loaded" for a potential response to the attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, after a senior official in his administration said Iran was to blame.
"There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!" Trump said on Twitter.
He said he had also authorized the use of the U.S. emergency oil stockpile to ensure stable supplies after the attack, which shut 5% of world production.
"Based on the attack on Saudi Arabia, which may have an impact on oil prices, I have authorized the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, if needed, in a to-be-determined amount sufficient to keep the markets well-supplied," Trump said.
Oil prices surged more than 15% at the open on Sunday on worries over global supply and soaring tensions in the Middle East. State oil giant Saudi Aramco said the attack on Saturday had cut output by 5.7 million barrels per day.
Earlier in the day, a senior U.S. official told reporters that evidence from the attack, which hit the world's biggest oil-processing facility, indicated Iran was behind it, instead of the Yemeni Houthi group that had claimed responsibility.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi dismissed the U.S. allegation it was responsible as "pointless." A senior Revolutionary Guards commander warned that the Islamic Republic was ready for "full-fledged" war.
"All American bases and their aircraft carriers in a distance of up to 2,000 kilometers around Iran are within the range of our missiles," the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Commander Amirali Hajizadeh as saying.
The U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said on Sunday there were 19 points of impact in the attack on Saudi facilities and that evidence showed the launch area was west-northwest of the targets - not south from Yemen.
The official added that Saudi officials indicated they had seen signs that cruise missiles were used in the attack, which is inconsistent with the Iran-aligned Houthi group’s claim that it conducted the attack with 10 drones.
"There's no doubt that Iran is responsible for this. No matter how you slice it, there's no escaping it. There's no other candidate," the official told reporters.
Riyadh has accused Iran of being behind previous attacks on oil-pumping stations and the Shaybah oil field, charges that Tehran denies. Saudi Arabia has not yet blamed any party for Saturday's strike. Riyadh also says Tehran arms the Houthis, a charge both deny.
Aramco gave no timeline for output resumption. A source close to the matter told Reuters the return to full oil capacity could take "weeks, not days."
Traders and analysts said crude may spike to as high as $100 a barrel if Riyadh fails to quickly bring back supply.
Another source briefed on the developments said Saudi oil exports would continue to run as normal this week thanks to large storage in the kingdom, the world's top oil exporter. It ships more than 7 million barrels daily to global destinations.
Riyadh said it would compensate for the damage at its facilities by drawing on its stocks, which stood at 188 million barrels in June, according to official data. The United States said it was also ready to tap emergency oil reserves if needed.
The Saudi bourse closed down 1.1% on Sunday, with banking and petrochemical shares taking the biggest hit. Saudi petrochemical firms announced a significant reduction in feedstock supplies.
"Abqaiq is the nerve center of the Saudi energy system. Even if exports resume in the next 24 to 48 hours, the image of invulnerability has been altered," Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told Reuters.
'UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK'
According to the U.S. official, 17 structures at Abqaiq suffered damage on their west-northwest facing sides, along with two points of impact at Saudi's Khurais facility.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier that there was no evidence the attack came from Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Houthis for over four years in a conflict widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Muslim rival Iran.
"Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply," he said.
Some Iraqi media outlets said the attack came from there. Baghdad denied that on Sunday and vowed to punish anyone using Iraq, where Iran-backed paramilitary groups wield increasing power, as a launchpad for attacks.
Kuwait, which borders Iraq, said it was investigating the sighting of a drone over its territory and coordinating with Saudi Arabia and other countries. The Cabinet said the prime minister ordered tighter security at vital installations.
Regional tensions have escalated since Washington quit an international nuclear deal and extended sanctions on Iran.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Saturday's attacks and called on all parties to exercise restraint and prevent any escalation.
The European Union warned that the strikes posed a real threat to regional security, Britain called them a "reckless attempt" to disrupt global oil supplies and France said such actions could only worsen the "risk of conflict." Iran's ally Turkey called for the avoidance of "provocative steps."
U.S.-IRAN TALKS
The attack came after Trump said a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was possible at the U.N. General Assembly in New York this month. Tehran ruled out talks until sanctions are lifted.
But Trump appeared on Sunday to play down the chances he might be willing to meet with Iranian officials, saying reports he would do so without conditions were not accurate.
Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Trump that Riyadh was ready to deal with "terrorist aggression." A Saudi-led coalition has responded to past Houthi attacks with air strikes on the group's military sites in Yemen.
The conflict has been in military stalemate for years. The Saudi alliance has air supremacy but has come under scrutiny over civilian deaths and a humanitarian crisis that has left millions facing starvation. The Houthis, more adept at guerrilla warfare, have increased attacks on Saudi cities, thwarting peace efforts.
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