The 70th United States Secretary of State Department, Mike Pompeo met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on September 18 to discuss the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia. For the protection of the country, Saudis have spent billions on buying America's most advanced weaponry. However, even after such an expensive defense system, the kingdom built on oil could not prevent the Iranian drone and missile attack. These incidents have exposed that America's most advanced weaponry failed. The leaders are still deciding if a retaliation should be initiated in Iran. The United States said that they stand with Saudi  Arabia and support their right to defend themselves. Mike Pompeo also stressed that these attacks by Iran will “not be tolerated”.

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'Best air defenses sometimes fail'

On Wednesday, the US Secretary said it might be possible that Saudi Arabia could have dropped his guard and thus failed to stop any of the low-flying cruise missiles or armed drones that were attacked by the Abqaiq oil processing center. Abqaiq oil center is the largest of its kind in the world and the Khurais oil field. Mike Pompeo further explained that even the best air defenses sometimes fail. He feels that infrastructure and resources are combined so that attacks like these can be less successful. Pompeo admitted that the recent attacks were something that was “never seen before”. He further called the strikes on Saudi oil centers as an “act of war”. However, the military response is not yet decided. The Saudi officials have confirmed that the attacks were “unquestionable sponsored by Iran”. 

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US military in Saudi

After nearly 10 years, this summer, the American forces were returned to Saudi Arabia, at Prince Sultan airbase which is south of Riyadh. The forces constitute of a Patriot missile battery. Prince Sultan has also become the epicenter of American airpower in the Middle East in the 1990s. However, the forces were abandoned by Washington after the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein was taken down in 2003. Moreover, the recent strikes were not usual in their execution and unparalleled in their targeting. Saudi Arabia have narrowed down all their air defenses on threats mainly from the south, where the Houthi rebels often launch their missiles. 

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