Western Media Adamant In Initiating War Between Saudi Arabia And Iran – OpEd

It may not be wrong to say that the western media loves when the United States bombs countries. Even at present such media houses are adamant at starting war between Saudi Arabia and Iran by propagating anti-Iran narrative and running it again and again. There is consensus that they use the content till attack on Iran becomes a reality. Most of the coverage on Aramco attack, accuse Iran for the attacks.

Surprisingly, neither the US nor Saudi Arabia have so far presented or shared any credible evidence that can prove Iran launched the attack on Aramco. Riyadh put on display a wreckage of what it said were remnants of weapons used in the attacks. It was claimed the wreckage showed the attacks were unquestionably sponsored by Tehran, but many believe the assemblage of junk were not the concrete evidence.

When US President Donald Trump decided to impose yet another round of sanctions to punish the people of Iran for what there is no public proof of, western media was furious that he has backed away from an all-out war. They are demanding why he is not initiating another military conflict in the Middle East.

The latest series of strikes on Saudi Arabian targets this year, were launched from south-western Iran using drones and cruise missiles. The strike on Aramco fits in the pattern of Yemeni strikes against Saudi economic infrastructure. There is no plausible reason to believe Iran was behind the attacks, and it’s even unclear if Iran has indirectly played a role in the attacks. Although the US government and establishment media often call the Houthis a proxy of Iran, it is an independent force grown out of decades-long conflict in Yemen. The extent to which Iran offers support to the Yemeni forces has never been established.

A columnist suggested Iran was behind the attack. A paragraph says,” Iran has been testing drones and supplying them to regional allies such as Hezbollah for years. It was also said that the missiles were reportedly able to evade Saudi air defenses.

Another article “United States sending troops to bolster Saudi defenses after attack”, says the US officials told that Southwest Iran was the staging ground for the attack that might has been authorized by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The article says, an assessment based at least in part on still-classified imagery showing Iran appearing to prepare an aerial strike.

A peek into the recent history tells, when President Trump ordered missile strike on Syria’s Shayrat Air Base in April 2017, it was widely admired by the western media. A day after the attack a reporter said he thinks Trump had just became President of the United States. Another asserted he has put the credibility of American power,” and yet another claimed, “We finally have a man who knows the difference between right and wrong and good and evil, and it makes us proud.”

All this was not new, in the past the barrage of propaganda directed at the American public forced them believe that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in 9/11 attacks. That was a significant achievement in manipulation. The poll results must have been news for the Iraqi dictator himself, a forgotten one-time American ally, who fought a proxy war with Iran, spread over a decade.

The MSM outlets are repeating that Iran was behind the attack, despite the fact Iranian complacency with the Yemeni strike has not yet been publicly demonstrated.

They are following in the footsteps of U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who has put American credibility on the line by accusing Iran of perpetrating an “act of war”.

Anyway, even if factual evidence does emerge that Iran has provided weapons used in the attack, there would be much less actual guilt on the part of Tehran than what the western outlets say. Why would this justify a U.S. military response?

Assemblage of junk

Al-Maliki did not say what area the strikes were fired from, just asserting they “could not have originated in Yemen”.

Separately, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir showed he is clueless about the perpetrator of the attacks. Al-Jubeir said Riyadh would take the appropriate steps if its investigation confirmed that the attacks were launched from Iranian soil.

“The kingdom will take the appropriate measures based on the results of the investigation, to ensure its security and stability,” al-Jubeir told a news conference.

Reuters eggs on war

The articles generally repeat the same demonology pro-war voices offered for years to try to justify an attack on Iran.

The article also says the Pentagon’s late Friday announcement that it will send some troops to Saudi Arabia to bolster defense systems “appeared to close the door to any imminent decision to wage retaliatory strikes against Iran following the attack”.

Ouch! Isn’t it too bad that the doors to “retaliatory strikes” are closed?

The title of a column says, “Saudi oil attack shows how Iran sees new Mideast game”.

Another article reads, “Saudi Arabia shows attack site damage as Iran pledges tough defense”. This article relates a Saudi-organized tour of the damaged facilities for western reporters to Friday remarks by an Iranian official that Iran would give firm response to any U.S. military plot in the region. This is also the case with two other articles, titled “Iran says it will destroy any aggressor” and “Iran navy commander says Iran ready to defend its marine borders”.

Both articles link pledges by Iranian commanders to defend Iranian territory, made in speeches on the occasion of the 39th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraqi invasion of Iran, to the Aramco attacks.

Striking example

Perhaps no article demonstrates the Reuters pro-war stance than this major piece.