Most Americans are opposed to the idea of a new US military conflict over the recent attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, a new poll found, amid reports that Washington is not ruling out a military response to the attack which slashed Riyadh’s oil output by more than half. RNA - The survey by the Business Insider, released late Wednesday, found that only 13 percent of Americans would want to see a joint military response by Washington and Riyadh to the recent drone attacks by Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement on two huge Saudi Arabian oil processing facilities.
Asked what role they think Washington should take on in case of a military response by Riyadh, 25 percent of the participants in the survey said "the US should remove itself entirely from the affairs of the region and let Saudi Arabia handle the issue itself".
Around 25 percent stated that the US should stay out of the conflict at any price and respond by condemning the attack and hit those responsible with sanctions or diplomatic criticism.
The poll found that 16 percent of Americans believe "the US should offer material support in the form of supplies and intelligence to Saudi Arabia for their military response, but no more", while 22 percent noted that they “don’t know” what the US should do.
Only seven percent of those questioned said the US should support the Saudis with “a complete military assistance in whatever form may be required”, and six percent said the US “should engage in air assaults or bombings as part of a Saudi military response but refrain from committing ground forces".
Several drones flown by the Yemeni forces targeted Saudi Arabia’s key oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais on Saturday. The attacks shut down about 50 percent of the kingdom’s crude and gas production, and cut the state oil giant’s crude oil supply by around 5.7 million barrels per day. A return to normal production could take months, not weeks.
Without prviding any reliable proof, the US administration has tried to build its case that Iran was behind the attacks, but Tehran has strongly denied any involvement in the assaults.
Iran has strongly rejected US officials' allegations that Tehran was involved in the drone attacks against the Saudi oil installations.
Tehran has also sent an official memo to Washington through the Swiss embassy, which represents the US interests in Iran, to dismiss allegations of involvement in the Yemenis' Saturday attacks against the Saudi oil facilities and warn against any reaction which harms the Iranian interests.
Spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree has also stressed that his country is ready for another attack on Saudi facilities, urging foreign companies and workers to immediately leave their working sites in the kingdom for their safety.
The Yemeni drones operation on Saudi oil facilities that led to the largest ever disruption in oil markets has severely tarnished Riyadh's military capabilities and lowered the value of the well-known company, Aramco, in the energy market with a half-a-trillion dollar loss.
The surprise attack has already caused oil prices to jump, forcing both the US and Saudi Arabia to tap into their reserves to calm the market. The shortage is also expected to cause gas prices to jump across the United States.
Saudi Arabia is trying to calm markets after heavy strikes on its oil facilities, with sources in the kingdom claiming that output was recovering much more quickly than initially forecast and could be fully back in two or three weeks, while other sources have stated that a return to normal production could take months, not days.
Market and industry experts believe that the incident could stoke already-flaring tensions in the Middle East, driving crude prices higher amid growing fears of supply shortages. The consequences of the strikes led to uncertainty in the oil market as it’s unclear when the giant company can restore operations to normal.
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