Saudi Crown Prince, Pentagon Chief Discuss US Troop Deployment in the Kingdom – SPA

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper talked over the phone on Wednesday about the ongoing arrangements to send US troops of a defensive nature to the Kingdom, state-run media reported.

In June, the Trump administration announced the deployment of about 500 US forces to Prince Sultan Air Base east of Riyadh. According to media reports, US troops were first based in Saudi Arabia following Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which allowed al-Qaeda to claim US forces were polluting the birthplace of Islam until a 2003 withdrawal ordered by the Saudi government.

The return of US troops to Saudi Arabia is part of both countries’ intense focus on countering Iran.

On 14 September, a drone attack on two Saudi oil facilities resulted in a more than twofold drop in the country’s net oil output. Although Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthi, claimed responsibility for the attack, the United States and Saudi Arabia have blamed Iran. Tehran has rejected the allegations. 

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said earlier the US government defers to Riyadh on the origin of the recent strikes on Saudi oil facilities.