This archive report was first published on 16 September 2019.
On September 14, 2019, a weekend drone attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities cut into global energy supplies and halved the kingdom's oil production, threatening a regional crisis amidst US-Iran tensions.
Iran denied US allegations that it launched the assault, with the country's Foreign Ministry calling the claims 'maximum lies.'
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commander, Brig Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh, warned that the region was like a 'powder keg' and that a conflict could happen due to a misunderstanding.
The attack on Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq plant and its Khurais oil field led to the interruption of an estimated 5.7 million barrels of the kingdom's crude oil production per day, equivalent to over five per cent of the world's daily supply.
A prominent US senator suggested striking Iranian oil refineries in response to the assault claimed by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Already, there have been mysterious attacks on oil tankers that America blames on Tehran, at least one suspected Israeli strike on Shiite forces in Iraq, and Iran shooting down a US military surveillance drone.
These actions have been part of a twilight war that's been raging just below the surface of the wider Persian Gulf.
