Mystery Missile Attack off the Saudi Coast

(Bloomberg) --

An Iranian oil tanker slammed by rockets in the Red Sea, damaged and unassisted in its distress.

The tanker is leaking oil — it can carry 1 million barrels of crude — so poses an immediate environmental risk and a danger to shipping in a busy waterway. Beyond that, however, it’s a geopolitical whodunit with big implications for an already febrile region.

The unexplained attack adds to tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia over drone and missile strikes last month on Saudi oil facilities that briefly cut global supplies by 5%, the worst sudden disruption in history. The Saudis blamed Iran for that attack, with Tehran, in turn, pointing the finger at Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

A spokesman for the National Iranian Tanker Company initially said the missiles involved in today’s strike probably came from the direction of Saudi Arabia. NITC later withdrew that claim in a statement.

It’s unclear where else the missiles would have originated. Perhaps the NITC spokesman jumped the gun in speaking publicly.

Even if Iran doesn’t want to rush to point the finger at Riyadh, this attack underscores how vulnerable energy supplies in the region remain. That’s bad news for oil, the global economy and broader political stability.

Global Headlines

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What to Watch

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Pop quiz, readers (no cheating!). Who did President Trump ask two years ago to help persuade the Justice Department to drop a criminal case against Iranian-Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab? Send us your guesses and tell us how we’re doing or what we’re missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.

And finally ... The United Arab Emirates is lobbying in Washington to try to hobble Al-Jazeera, one of the Arab world’s most prominent TV networks. The broadcaster is in the crosshairs amid a regional power struggle pitting Qatar, where it’s based, against Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and their allies. The goal is to convince regulators to force Al-Jazeera to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department, a designation that would in effect brand it as a government propagandist akin to Russia Today and risk its press credentials

--With assistance from Kathleen Hunter, Iain Marlow and Tim Ross.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Karl Maier

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