Tag: saudi arabia

U.S. Marshals RAID Home of Former Republican Lobbyist Jim Courtovich

U.S. Marshals raided the upscale home of former Republican lobbyist Jim Courtovich, enforcing a federal court order tied to a $4 million judgment stemming from allegations of financial misconduct.

Courtovich, the founder of Sphere Consulting and a fixture on the K Street party circuit, once rubbed elbows with media elites and GOP heavyweights.

During the 2016 Republican primary, Courtovich supported Jeb Bush, one of Trump’s main rivals. He reportedly did not vote in the 2016 general election.

According to a report from The New York Times and journalist Brody Mullins, a team of armed federal agents arrived at Courtovich’s multimillion-dollar residence near Kalorama just before 10 a.m., loudly announcing their presence and warning they were prepared to forcibly enter if necessary.

The raid enforces a federal court judgment ordering him to repay $4 million-plus, in what Saudi-backed investors claim was a brazen breach of contract and outright fraud.

“US Marshals this morning raided the home of Jim Courtovich, the once-high flying Republican lobbyist & fixer.
Saudi & other business partners had won a judgment against him for stealing $4m, & the raid was an effort to collect, reports Brody Mullins, who was on the scene & has a lively dispatch in his new Influence newsletter.”

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Saudi Prince Reveals Obama Gave Iranian Regime $150 Billion – And Iran Did Not Build a Single Street

This past week, Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman revealed that President Obama gave Iran $150 billion when Obama was in office, and the regime did not even build a single street with that money.

Instead, they used the money to make missiles and drones and to fortify their proxy armies in the region like Hamas, Ansar Allah, and Hezbollah. With these funds, Iran offers a safe harbor to the leaders of Al Qaeda, including one of Osama Bin Laden’s sons, who was indoctrinated into jihadism.

This was Barack Obama’s way of destabilizing the Middle East. And Obama did this all in public view. Well, most of it.

This was a direct threat against Israel and American allies in the region. Obama always brought chaos with him and left a trail of destruction. He took actions to spread this chaos and evil across the Middle East.

The Gateway Pundit readers know that we have reported on Barack Obama’s pallets of cash sent to Iran in the dead of night.

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Iran strike destroys $300M U.S. E-3 Sentry radar aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia

An Iranian missile strike on a base in Saudi Arabia reportedly destroyed a $300 million U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry, a loss analysts suggest could compromise the military’s ability to detect long-range threats.

The E-3 Sentry — an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) — was one of six units stationed at Prince Sultan Air Base before Friday’s attack. These aircraft are critical for spotting incoming missiles and coordinating complex airstrikes.

At least 10 American service members were injured during the strike on the facility, located approximately 80 miles southeast of Riyadh.

While 16 E-3s remain in the U.S. fleet, a significant portion of them are not currently mission-ready. Notably, this incident marks the first time an AWACS has been destroyed in combat. By Monday, defense analysts were raising urgent questions regarding how such a high-value asset was left vulnerable to the Iranian strike.

“Extraordinary measures are often taken to protect it from hostile enemy fire while in-flight. Sometimes it receives fighter escorts and is never allowed to overfly hostile territory in order to keep it safe,” said military analyst Cedric Leighton.

Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at King’s College London’s School of Security Studies, argues that the U.S. should have anticipated such an escalation and better prepared for a prolonged conflict. He emphasized that the military should have bolstered defenses for permanent installations, particularly in a theater where the adversary possesses extensive inventories of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and one-way attack drones.

Conversely, Burcu Ozcelik, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, expressed a more measured view, warning against underestimating the potential for internal damage within Iran. Ozcelik suggested that at this stage of the conflict, observers should remain cautious and avoid overstating the actual extent of the damage sustained by U.S. forces.

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US Mideast Allies including Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Others, Urge President Trump to Continue War on Iran

US Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia, UAE and other Gulf allies urge President Trump to continue war on Iran,

The US allies privately warned President Trump that Tehran has not been weakened enough.

The US Allies say four weeks of bombings has not been enough to destroy the barbaric Iranian regime.

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US soldiers ‘seriously’ wounded and planes damaged after Iranian missile attack on air base

Around a dozen US soldiers have reportedly been wounded and multiple planes damaged following an Iranian missile strike at a base in Saudi Arabia. 

The service members were on Prince Sultan Air Base when it was struck by at least one missile and several unmanned aerial vehicles on Friday, according to multiple US and Arab officials.

Twelve American soldiers were wounded in the attack, according to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. 

Two service members are ‘very seriously injured’ while eight others are ‘seriously injured’, both a separate category under the military’s classification system, according to CBS News. The condition of others is unknown.

At least two KC-135 refueling planes suffered ‘significant damage’ in the combined missile and drone attack, according to the NYT. Satellite photos appeared to reveal the full extent of damage to the aircraft.

Friday’s strike represents one of the most serious breaches of US air defenses since the monthlong war with Iran began, as well as at least the second hit on Prince Sultan Air Base. 

An earlier March 1 strike on the base damaged five US refueling aircraft and claimed the life of 26-year-old Army Sgt. Benjamin N Pennington just days after he was wounded. 

Over 300 US troops have been wounded and at least 13 killed in the ongoing conflict, including about 225 with traumatic brain injuries from missile blasts, the US Central Command announced on Friday.

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‘Punish Iran’: Saudi Arabia & UAE Inch Closer To Joining US-Israeli War

Earlier this month, Elbridge Colby, a senior official in the US Department of War, held a call with Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, who is also the brother and top adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Iran’s attacks on US bases in the Gulf were heating up, and the US needed expanded access and overflight permissions. Saudi Arabia agreed to open King Fahd Air Base in Taif, in Western Saudi Arabia, to the Americans, multiple US and western officials familiar with the matter told Middle East Eye.

The base is important because it is farther from Iranian Shahed drones than Prince Sultan Air Base, which has come under repeated Iranian attacks. Taif is also close to Jeddah, the Red Sea port that has become a critical logistics hub since Iran effectively took control of the Strait of Hormuz. Current and former US officials tell MEE that if the Trump administration is preparing for a longer war on Iran, Jeddah may be critical for sustaining US armed forces. Thousands of US ground troops are en route to the region from East Asia. 

Saudi Arabia’s decision to expand base access, current and former officials say, underscores a shift in how the kingdom and some other Gulf states are responding to the US-Israeli war on Iran. “The attitude in Riyadh has shifted towards supporting the US war as a way to punish Iran for strikes,” a western official in the Gulf told MEE.

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Saudi oil giant warns of ‘catastrophic consequences’ from Iran war as three commercial ships are ‘attacked’ in Strait of Hormuz and Tehran tries to strangle world’s energy supplies

Saudi Arabia‘s state oil company has warned of ‘catastrophic consequences’ for the world’s oil markets if the Middle East war continues to choke exports, as three commercial ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. 

The waterway is a chokepoint in the global oil trade, where roughly 20 per cent of the world’s oil would ordinarily pass through daily. 

But as a result of the roiling war, oil shipments have been largely blocked from using the shipping artery. And Iran said on Tuesday it would not allow ‘one litre of oil’ to be shipped from the Middle East if US and Israeli attacks continue.

Amin Nasser, the CEO of Aramco, said: ‘While we have faced disruptions in the past, this one by far is the biggest crisis the region’s oil and gas industry has faced.’

He admitted that while his firm, the world’s single biggest exporter of oil, was meeting most of its customers’ needs for now, this was only possible by tapping into storage facilities outside the Gulf. 

Nasser said that these stores cannot be used for ‘an extended period of time, but for the time being, we are capitalising on it.’ 

The CEO said: ‘There would be catastrophic consequences for the world’s oil markets, and the longer the disruption goes on … the more drastic the consequences for the global economy.’ 

The stark warning comes after three commercial ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz.

An attack on the Thailand-flagged bulk carrier Mayuree Naree from an ‘unknown projectile’, which was reported at 4.35am GMT, happened 11 nautical miles north of Oman and resulted in a fire onboard the ship. 

Iran today confirmed it had attacked the Mayuree Naree, adding: ‘The American aggressors and their partners have no right to pass.’

Authorities are searching for three missing crew members from the Mayuree Naree after 20 were rescued by the Omani navy. 

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Saudi Arabia Is Preparing to Strike Iran

Saudia Arabia is preparing to launch a counter-attack against Iran.

“Well-placed military and diplomatic sources in the region tell me Saudi Arabia is very close to allowing its air force to strike targets inside Iran after facing unprecedented missile and drone attacks on its civilians, including incoming missiles today targeting Daman, its fifth-largest city,” chief national security correspondent at Fox News, Jennifer Griffin revealed. “Quote, the next 24 hours is going to be intense, I’m told.”

She went on to explain that Operation Epic fury wouldn’t currently be possible without moves made in the first Trump administration, namely the Abraham Accords.

“What’s truly extraordinary, about this development is that it would not have been possible if Israel had not been brought in under U.S. Central Command at the end of the first Trump administration,” she said. “Carrying out airstrikes takes tremendous deconfliction and coordination. Israel used to be attached to the European command due to sensitivities with the Arab states that did not recognize Israel. That changed with the Abraham Accords.”

Griffin also said that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and the U.S. military are operating with distinct objectives.

Israeli forces are concentrating on decapitating regime leadership and striking command nodes in western Iran, along with targeting military industries, surface-to-surface missile systems, and other “terror regime” assets directly tied to threats against Israel. 

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US Embassy in Saudi Arabia hit in suspected Iranian drone attack: reports

The US Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh was damaged in a suspected Iranian drone attack Monday night.

The embassy was hit by two drones, “resulting in a limited fire and minor material damage to the building,” a spokesperson for the Saudi defense ministry wrote on X.

A loud blast was heard, and a small fire was seen at the embassy,  Reuters reported. 

“The U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia has issued a shelter in place notification for Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran and are limiting non-essential travel to any military installations in the region,” a “security alert” posted by the Riyadh embassy on X read.

“We recommend American citizens in the Kingdom to shelter in place immediately.”

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Saudi Arabia Bombs Yemeni Port, Claims Attack Targeted Weapons Bound for UAE-Backed Forces

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday bombed the southern Yemeni port city of Mukalla, claiming to target a weapons shipment bound for the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), which has taken territory from Saudi-backed forces in recent weeks. It’s unclear at this point if there were any casualties in the strikes.

Riyadh said it targeted an arms shipment after ships from the UAE arrived at the port. “The ships’ crew had disabled tracking devices aboard the vessels, and unloaded a large amount of weapons and combat vehicles in support of the Southern Transitional Council’s forces,” the Saudi military said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.

“Considering that the aforementioned weapons constitute an imminent threat, and an escalation that threatens peace and stability, the Coalition Air Force has conducted this morning a limited airstrike that targeted weapons and military vehicles offloaded from the two vessels in Mukalla,” the statement added.

The UAE’s Foreign Ministry denied the Saudi claims but said that it had shipped vehicles to its own forces in Yemen and that Riyadh was aware of the shipment. “The ministry confirms that the shipment concerned did not include any weapons, and that the vehicles unloaded were not intended for any Yemeni party, but were shipped for use by UAE forces operating in Yemen,” the ministry said.

The UAE’s Defense Ministry later announced that it was pulling troops out of Yemen. “The Ministry of Defense announces the termination of the remaining counterterrorism teams in Yemen,” the ministry said, according to The Cradle, adding that the move came “of its own volition, ensuring the safety of its personnel, and in coordination with relevant partners.”

The Saudi strikes demonstrate fractures among the Gulf powers and the anti-Houthi coalition in Yemen, which formed the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) back in 2022 when the Saudis gave up on their goal of re-installing former Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi in Sanaa, which has been under Houthi control since 2014.

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