![](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/1\/19\/Animated-Flag-Saudi-Arabia.gif\")
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Both Jeff LPH 3 and the KoB sent me this one, so I figure I better get something up before there comes a vote of no confidence.<\/p>\n
The Associated Press (via Fox News<\/a> or Military Times<\/a>) report that there are plans in progress to open new bases in Saudi Arabia amid the increasing tensions with Iran.<\/p>\n The U.S. military is exploring the possibility of using a Red Sea port in Saudi Arabia and an additional two airfields in the kingdom amid heightened tensions with Iran, the military said Tuesday.<\/p>\n While describing the work as \u201ccontingency\u201d planning, the U.S. military said it already has tested unloading and shipping cargo overland from Saudi Arabia\u2019s port at Yanbu, a crucial terminal for oil pipelines in the kingdom.<\/p>\n Using Yanbu, as well as air bases at Tabuk and Taif along the Red Sea, would give the American military more options along a crucial waterway that has come under increased attack from suspected mine and drone boat attacks by Yemen\u2019s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.<\/p>\n However, the announcement comes as Saudi-American relations remain strained by the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the kingdom\u2019s ongoing war in Yemen in the first days of President Joe Biden\u2019s administration. Deploying \u2014 even temporarily \u2014 American troops to bases in the kingdom, which is home to the Muslim holy city of Mecca, could reignite anger among extremists.<\/p>\n U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for Central Command, said the evaluation of the sites had been going on for over a year, sparked by the September 2019 drone-and-missile attack on the heart of the Saudi oil industry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n More at the source.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"