Saudi Arabia launched covert attacks on Iran as regional war widened: Report

Saudi Arabias Air Force carried out numerous unpublicized strikes on Iran in late March in retaliation for the attacks carried out in the country during the Iran War Reuters reported on Wednesday citing two Western officials and two Iranian officialsAccording to the Reuters report this is the first time that Saudi Arabia is known to have directly attacked Iran reflective of how Riyadh is becoming bolder in defending itself The attacks by the Saudi Air Force were assessed to have been carried out in late March the two Western officials said One said only that they were titfortat strikes in retaliation for when Saudi Arabia was hitHowever Reuters said that it was unable to confirm what the specific targets were When requested for a comment a senior Saudi foreign ministry official did not address directly whether strikes had been carried out and the Iranian foreign ministry did not respondThe Saudi strikes underline how the conflict has widened in the West Asia and Gulf region in ways which were not previously acknowledged In order to prevent the conflict from escalating further Saudi Arabia has stayed in regular contact with Iran including via Tehrans ambassador in RiyadhAs per Reuters the Iranian and Western officials said Riyadh made Tehran aware of the strikes and this was followed by intensive diplomatic engagement and Saudi threats to retaliate further which led to an understanding between the two countries to deescalateIt mentioned that the informal deescalation took effect in the week before Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire in their broader conflict on April 7 One of the Iranian officials confirmed that the two countries had agreed to deescalate saying the move aimed to cease hostilities safeguard mutual interests and prevent the escalation of tensionsSaudi Arabias strikes followed weeks of mounting tension At a press conference in Riyadh on March 19 Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the kingdom reserved the right to take military actions if deemed necessary Reuters noted that three days later Saudi Arabia declared Irans military attache and four embassy staff members personae non grataeThe end of March saw the taking of a more hawkish approach and retaliating further led to an understanding to deescalate the Western sources said As per the report from more than 105 drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia in the week of March 2531 the number fell to just over 25 between April 16 according to a Reuters tally of Saudi defence ministry statementsIt also mentioned that the projectiles fired at Saudi Arabia in the days leading up to the wider ceasefire were assessed by Western sources to have originated in Iraq and not Iran thus indicating Tehran curtailed direct strikes while allied groups continued to operateAs Saudi Arabia summoned Iraqs ambassador on April 12 to protest against attacks from Iraqi soil the SaudiIranian communication continued despite tensions which emerged at the start of the broader ceasefire between Iran and the US when according to the Saudi defence ministry reported 31 drones and 16 missiles fired at the kingdom on April 78The spike drove Riyadh to consider retaliating against Iran and Iraq as Pakistan deployed fighter jets the report mentionedThe revelation of Saudi strikes comes shortly after the United Arab Emirates UAE reportedly carried out covert strikes on Iran marking a significant escalation in the Gulf monarchys role in the war The Wall Street Journal reported earlier citing people familiar with the matterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever