Saudi Arabia Calls for Emergency Summits after Attacks

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman plans to hold two emergency summit meetings in Mecca at the end of the month to discuss recent attacks against the kingdom and its ally, the United Arab Emirates. One summit will be for leaders of countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council, the other for members of the broader Arab League. Four commercial oil tankers, two of which were Saudi, were sabotaged off the coast of the UAE last week, and two days later, drones attacked a Saudi oil pipeline. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for the drone attack, and US officials reportedly believe that Iran orchestrated the tanker attacks. Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir recently told a news conference that the kingdom did not “seek” war in the region, but “in the event the other side chooses war, the kingdom will respond with all force and determination.” Meanwhile, according to Iran’s Fars news agency, Maj.-Gen. Hossein Salami, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said on Sunday that Tehran was not pursuing war, echoing a statement from Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.