The US Defence Department on Tuesday walked back a senior official's testimony before the Senate, which initially appeared to confirm that last month’s attack on the Israeli-operated oil tanker Mercer Street had been launched from Yemen.
Dana Stroul, deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for the Middle East, initially confirmed reports the attack had been launched from Yemen while testifying on US arms sales to the Middle East before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"Yes, I can confirm those reports," she told Republican Todd Young before proceeding to corroborate an earlier assessment that the attack had been carried out using an Iranian-produced drone.
But shortly after Ms Stroul's testimony, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby denied she had confirmed the drone attack had originated in Yemen.
The British Daily Express first reported that British special forces were in Yemen to hunt down the platform used to launch the attack, implying that the Tehran-backed Houthis had carried out the strike.
“Last Friday, US Central Command released a statement based on the exploitation of the wreckage and what we were able to recover from the Mercer Street,” Ms Stroul said while testifying before the Senate on American arms transfers to the Middle East.
“And what US Central Command did in co-operation with the Office of the Secretary of Defence, the Joint Staff and [Naval Forces Central Command] is look at the different components that we recovered, compared them to other known Iranian-supported [unmanned aerial vehicles] that we have exploited and were able to match and see similarities.”
The US has become increasingly concerned with Iran-backed drone attacks in recent years given their precision-guided capabilities.
The drone attack on the Mercer Street prompted the US and the UK to rally fellow members of the G7, a group of the world's seven largest economies, to condemn the attack.
Until the Mercer Street incident, in which one British and one Romanian national were killed, the US has largely refrained from commenting on continued attacks by Israel and Iran on each other's vessels. Iran denies that it played a role in the assault.
While Ms Stroul stopped short of blaming Yemen’s Houthis for attacking the ship as it sailed near Oman, she noted that the Iran-backed rebels have increased their assaults on Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the year — including drone attacks.
“We have seen more attacks from the Houthis launched at Saudi Arabia the first half of this year than we have for several prior years,” Ms Stroul said.
“Iran is increasing the lethality and complexity of both the equipment and knowledge it transfers to the Houthis so that they can attack Saudi territory, Saudi civilians. And there’s also a very sizeable US population in Saudi Arabia that is under risk because of the Iran-backed Houthi attacks.”
The Pentagon official also pointed to Washington’s interdiction in May of a dhow near Oman “which was also carrying a lot of weapons which we assess were Iranian supplied for the Houthis".
Ms Stroul also emphasised the risk that Iran-made drones pose to US troops in Iraq. A drone attack on the US consulate in Erbil this year prompted President Joe Biden to launch his second round of retaliatory strikes on Iran-backed militias in the country.
“This is a region-wide threat,” said Ms Stroul. “All of our partners are concerned about it and this is actually where security co-operation programmes can be very effective.”
Paltan
Producer: JP Films, Zee Studios
Director: JP Dutta
Cast: Jackie Shroff, Sonu Sood, Arjun Rampal, Siddhanth Kapoor, Luv Sinha and Harshvardhan Rane
Rating: 2/5
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
If you go:
The flights: Etihad, Emirates, British Airways and Virgin all fly from the UAE to London from Dh2,700 return, including taxes
The tours: The Tour for Muggles usually runs several times a day, lasts about two-and-a-half hours and costs £14 (Dh67)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is on now at the Palace Theatre. Tickets need booking significantly in advance
Entrance to the Harry Potter exhibition at the House of MinaLima is free
The hotel: The grand, 1909-built Strand Palace Hotel is in a handy location near the Theatre District and several of the key Harry Potter filming and inspiration sites. The family rooms are spacious, with sofa beds that can accommodate children, and wooden shutters that keep out the light at night. Rooms cost from £170 (Dh808).
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Match info
Manchester City 3 (Jesus 22', 50', Sterling 69')
Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 65')
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 1
Alonso (62')
Huddersfield Town 1
Depoitre (50')
MATCH INFO
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
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Top Hundred overseas picks
London Spirit: Kieron Pollard, Riley Meredith
Welsh Fire: Adam Zampa, David Miller, Naseem Shah
Manchester Originals: Andre Russell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Sean Abbott
Northern Superchargers: Dwayne Bravo, Wahab Riaz
Oval Invincibles: Sunil Narine, Rilee Rossouw
Trent Rockets: Colin Munro
Birmingham Phoenix: Matthew Wade, Kane Richardson
Southern Brave: Quinton de Kock
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
