ISLAMABAD, SEP 12: Pakistan has strongly condemned the “reprehensible” drone attacks on the East-West oil pipeline in Riyadh and Madina regions of Saudi Arabia, causing damage to the pipeline and injuries to civilians.
“These attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure are a flagrant violation of the international law as well as sovereignty and territorial integrity of the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and pose a serious threat to regional peace, security and stability,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on Saturday.
Saudi Arabia shut down its East-West pipeline after the vital oil conduit came under aerial attack in the widening Middle East war, threatening to send energy prices even higher.
The world’s largest crude oil exporter temporarily closed the pipeline after a drone attack that both Baghdad and Riyadh said had originated in Iraq. Iraq dismissed a military commander on Saturday in response to the attack.
The 1,200km pipeline running across the Arabian Peninsula had helped Saudi Arabia to bypass a shipping logjam in the Strait of Hormuz, where tanker traffic has slowed to a trickle due to the six-month war between the US and Iran.
In the statement, the FO said Pakistan reaffirmed its unwavering support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, security and prosperity of the kingdom, and reiterated its solidarity with the leadership, government and brotherly people of Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan has been and will continue to make earnest efforts to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region, it added.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes. Satellite images showed black smoke rising from an area of the pipeline south of Madina. The attack resulted in some injuries and damage that was being assessed, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said without detailing the impact on exports.
Saudi Arabia has opted against retaliation so far following a request from the Iraqi prime minister, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement, though adding that the kingdom reserves the right to “take all measures necessary” to protect its interests. Iraq’s government condemned the attacks.
Saudi crude supply fell to the lowest levels in more than three decades, the International Energy Agency said on Friday, partly due to attacks on ships transiting Bab el-Mandeb by Houthi-linked groups.
Iraq responded by ordering the closure of the Shalamcheh border crossing between Iraq and Iran as a precautionary measure, two security sources told Reuters. The crossing serves as one of the main routes for the import to Iraq of vegetables and other food supplies from Iran.
The two sources said a wide-scale operation was under way to find those responsible for the pipeline attack.
The attack came as Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen tightened their grip in the Red Sea, which combined with the Strait of Hormuz disruptions has put an energy squeeze on both sides of the Arabian Peninsula and sent global oil prices back above $100 per barrel.
Four Yemeni government sources told Reuters that Houthis had seized the strategic island of Perim on Friday at the mouth of the Red Sea, in the Bab al-Mandab strait.
The dual attacks reported on Friday — on the pipeline and Perim Island — could represent a dangerous escalation while diplomatic efforts to end the war have stalled.
