Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday his country was “ready to provide appropriate assistance to Saudi Arabia” in the wake of attacks claimed Saturday by the Yemeni Zaidi Shiite Muslim rebel group known as Ansar Allah, or the Houthis, against the Abqaiq oil-processing site and Khurais oil field. Putin said Saudi Arabia could better protect itself “by making a wise state decision, as Iran has already done in buying the S-300 Russian missile system and as [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has already done in buying the S-400 Russian missile system.”
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The U.S. has an extensive network of military assets in the Persian Gulf region separating Iran from Saudi Arabia and its allies on the Arabian Peninsula, including several Patriot missile defense systems. These weapons have failed to intercept previous Houthi strikes closer to the battlefield in the west, nor did they prevent the latest attacks deep in Saudi Arabia’s east.
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“We strongly recommend not rushing to conclusions about who carried out this attack on the Saudi refineries,” the ministry said in a statement Monday. “We consider it counterproductive to use what happened to build up passions around Iran in line with the well-known U.S. line and all the more unacceptable are options that provide for retaliatory force measures, which are allegedly being discussed at present in Washington.”
Navy Vet
Article URL : https://www.newsweek.com/russia-saudi-missiles-same-iran-1459510