King Faisal used it for the first time, Does Saudi Arabia threaten the West through the oil weapon?

Amid the global confusion in the oil markets due to the Ukrainian crisis that has been going on for more than a month, Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that it will not "be responsible" for any shortage of oil supplies to global markets in light of the attacks on its oil facilities by the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen.

And the Saudi Press Agency "SPA" quoted an official source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying that "Saudi Arabia announces that it will not bear any responsibility for any shortage of oil supplies to global markets in light of the attacks on its oil facilities from the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia."

In a related context, experts believe that Saudi Arabia may be in the process of using the oil paper, which was used for the first time by Saudi King Faisal bin Abdulaziz, one year before his assassination by his nephew at American instigation in 1975, in order to punish the Biden administration, which suspended support a year ago. The United States has pushed for Saudi military operations in Yemen to end the blockade, as well as to remove the Houthi group from the list of terrorism.

The origin of the story

King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz has been known for his interest in the Palestinian cause since he was in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he was 25 years old at the time. Israeli occupation.

Although Saudi Arabia did not possess advanced weapons or a strong army during the years of his rule, King Faisal realized the power of his country’s oil weapon, declaring his country’s willingness to use oil as a weapon in the Arabs’ battle with Israel, where he said: “We consider the issue of Palestine Our cause and the first Arab cause, and that Palestine is more precious to us than oil as a weapon in battle if necessary, and that the Palestinian people must return to their homeland even if it costs us all our lives.”

When the 1967 war broke out and Israel occupied all Palestinian land and part of the Arab lands, the late king decided to use the oil revenues to support Arab steadfastness and strengthen Arab armies to liberate the occupied Arab lands.

During the October 1973 war, King Faisal threatened to stop oil exports to the West and the United States if their pro-Israel stance continued, which he did in mid-October after America and Holland supplied Israel with arms.

Will Saudi Arabia return to using the oil weapon again?

In light of the exacerbation of tensions in relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States, which stopped its support for the military operations of the coalition in Yemen and urged Riyadh to end the siege of the international coalition to the areas under the control of the Houthis, Saudi Arabia rejected calls from the West to increase production in order to rein in prices that rose in conjunction with the start of the Russian invasion for the Ukrainian territory.

Despite the efforts of several major industrialized countries to persuade Saudi Arabia and the rest of the major oil producers to increase production in a way that exceeds what was agreed upon by the countries of the “OPEC Plus” alliance led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, Riyadh has not yet given positive signals about these demands and has repeatedly rejected American pressures to increase production with the aim of Reducing prices, in addition to starting talks with Beijing to export its oil in Chinese yuan instead of dollars.

It is noteworthy that Saudi Arabia invokes the Houthi attacks targeting its oil facilities, while the Saudi Ministry of Energy announced on Sunday that these attacks lead to "affecting the Kingdom's production capacity and its ability to fulfill its obligations." Which was read by experts that Riyadh threatens "behind a curtain" to use the oil card to pressure Washington in order to obtain its support again on the Yemeni issue.

Saudi Arabia's oil weapon under threat

Although Saudi Arabia is well aware of the power of its oil weapon, which it has used more than once when its relations with the West and the United States are tense, this strategic weapon has been exposed for years to serious threats that threaten the demise of its power and its efficacy.

Since mid-September 2019, oil installations over Saudi territory have been subjected to air attacks from time to time, by drones adopted by the Iranian-backed Yemeni "Houthi" militia.

The last of these attacks was what happened at an Aramco oil refinery after multiple attacks targeting its oil facilities on Saturday night, which prompted the kingdom to warn that such attacks constitute a “threat” to oil supplies in global markets during the Ukrainian crisis that has been going on for more than a month. .

While a source from the Saudi Foreign Ministry, whose identity was not revealed, urged the international community to realize the danger of Iran's arming the Houthis, who are fighting against the Saudi-led coalition, which began the military intervention in Yemen seven years ago.