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<\/a>By Nancy A. Youssef, Gordon Lubold, Summer Said and\u00a0Dion Nissenbaum
\nThe Wall Street Journal<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON\u2014U.S. and Saudi military forces and their elaborate air-defense systems failed to detect the launch of airstrikes aimed at Saudi Arabian oil facilities, allowing dozens of drones and missiles to hit their targets, U.S. officials said.<\/p>\n
Saudi and U.S. focus had been largely on the kingdom\u2019s southern border with Yemen, where Riyadh has been fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen\u2019s civil war, the officials said. The attacks, however, originated from Iranian territory in the northern Persian Gulf, people familiar with the investigation into the strikes said.<\/p>\n
As Saudi officials review information coming in from the U.S., Kuwait and their own investigators, they are increasingly confident that drones and missiles launched near Iran\u2019s southern border with Iraq flew low to the ground on their way to slamming into the heart of the Saudi oil industry early Saturday.<\/p>\n
Investigators have found debris that appears to be Iranian cruise-missile technology, the people familiar with the investigation said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything points to them,\u201d a Saudi official said, referring to Iran. \u201cThe debris, the intel and the points of impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. and Saudi officials didn\u2019t anticipate a strike from inside Iran, officials said, rather than through one of its proxy forces or elite military units.<\/p>\n
Saudi air defenses also were monitoring maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, where U.S. officials charge Iran has seized passing oil tankers and flown drones near American war ships.<\/p>\n
However, the absence of air-defense coverage left Saudi\u2019s eastern flank largely undefended by any U.S. or Saudi air-defense systems, and reinforced a stark vulnerability as Tehran grows more frustrated over tougher U.S. sanctions. The glaring blind spot also left Saudi Arabia exposed to a threat despite spending billions annually on its defense budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, we don\u2019t have an unblinking eye over the entire Middle East at all times,\u201d Marine Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters near London on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The U.S. deployed a Patriot missile system to Prince Sultan Air Base this year, but that system is intended to defend the base, where more than 500 U.S. personnel are deployed, along with the area immediately around it. That system wasn\u2019t within a range to defend against the Saturday attack, U.S. officials said.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s attack appeared to come from an Iranian base hundreds of miles away in the northern region of the Persian Gulf. U.S. officials said there had been indications of unusual activity at the base immediately before the attack, but declined to elaborate.<\/p>\n
The Houthis have claimed responsibility, but the Trump administration has instead blamed Iran.<\/p>\n
In the attack, Iran deployed more sophisticated missile technology that a U.S. official described as very maneuverable and with a lower signature and therefore harder to detect.<\/p>\n
Although there was no clear surveillance of the missile launch site, U.S. military officials are examining evidence they said points directly to Iran. Officials said they had two types of evidence: circumstantial evidence that may include communications before the attack, and forensic evidence, which includes wreckage, remnants of missiles and drones, chemicals and blast damage.<\/p>\n
American military officials have visited the attack sites in Saudi Arabia to inspect and collect the debris for intelligence, U.S. officials said, finding major components from at least one missile that didn\u2019t fully explode.<\/p>\n
Investigators also have found debris that appears to be Iranian cruise-missile technology, the officials said.<\/p>\n
There have been discussions within the military and intelligence agencies about declassifying and releasing some of the evidence that led them to suspect Iran, but it could take days before the U.S. can point to definitive evidence, officials said.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia\u2019s Defense Ministry is expected to release its preliminary findings on Wednesday, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives in the country for meetings in Jeddah with the country\u2019s leaders to discuss the crisis.<\/p>\n
Iran has denied that it carried out the attacks and accused the Trump administration of spreading misinformation in an effort to undermine its government.<\/p>\n
The U.K. and France, key U.S. allies, say they haven\u2019t seen evidence to support the allegations that Iran carried out the attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the moment, France has no proof that would allow us to say that the drones came from this or that place,\u201d French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said during a visit to Cairo on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and has agreed to send French experts to participate in the investigation, Mr. Macron\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s government remains opposed to any escalation and will call for both sides to exercise restraint and conduct diplomacy, German officials said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
One official said Berlin was conducting its own assessment of who was responsible for the strike, but said there were doubts about the initial claim made by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen that they launched 10 drones from Yemen to attack the oil facilities, at least without outside help.<\/p>\n
The attacks raised the prospect that simmering regional tensions could escalate into a military conflict between the U.S. and Iran, which have been locked in a standoff since the Trump administration pulled out of the 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran last year.<\/p>\n