Yemen's Houthi group did not launch an attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities in September, according to a confidential report by UN sanctions monitors seen by Reuters on Wednesday, bolstering a U.S. accusation that Iran was responsible.
The United States, European powers and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for the September 14 attack on the Saudi Aramco oil plants in Abqaiq and Khurais, dismissing a quick claim of responsibility by the Iran-allied Houthis. Tehran denied any involvement.
The report by the independent UN experts to the Security Council Yemen sanctions committee said, "that despite their claims to the contrary, the Houthi forces did not launch the attacks on Abqaiq and Khurais on 14 September 2019."
The findings of the UN report come amid escalating tensions in the region after the United States killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad and Tehran retaliated by firing missiles at military facilities housing U.S. troops in Iraq.
The UN investigators said they doubted that the drones and land attack cruise missiles used in the Sept. 14 attack "have a sufficient range to have been launched from Yemeni territory under the control of the Houthis."
"The panel notes that Abqaiq and Khurais were approached respectively from a north/northwestern and north/northeastern direction, rather than from the south, as one would expect in the case of a launch from Yemeni territory," the report said.
The investigators, who monitor sanctions on Yemen, also said they do not believe that "those comparatively sophisticated weapons were developed and manufactured in Yemen." They were not tasked with identifying who was responsible for the Saudi attack.
The attacks that targeted the Abqaiq and the Khurais oil plants caused a spike in oil prices, fires and damage, and shut down more than 5 per cent of global oil supply. Saudi Arabia said on October 3 that it had fully restored oil output.
The Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel Al Jubeir, signalled in September that Riyadh was waiting for results of UN investigations before announcing how his country would respond.
"The United Nations sent people to be part of the investigation, other countries have sent experts to be part of the investigation," he told reporters in New York.
"When the team that's investigating has concluded its investigations we will make the announcements publicly."
Reuters reported in November that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had approved the attack on the Saudi oil facilities, but with strict conditions: Iranian forces had to avoid hitting any civilians or Americans. Iran rejected the version of events that four people described to Reuters.
UN experts monitoring UN sanctions on Iran and Yemen traveled to Saudi Arabia days after the September attack.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council in a separate report on December 10 - on the implementation of an arms embargo and other restrictions on Iran - that the United Nations was "unable to independently corroborate" that missiles and drones used in the attacks "are of Iranian origin."
The report seen by Reuters on Wednesday is from the independent panel of experts that reports twice a year to the Security Council on the implementation of sanctions related to the conflict in Yemen that were imposed in 2014 and 2015.
It was submitted to the UN Security Council Yemen sanctions committee on December 27, but will not be made public until later this month or next month.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen 2015, backing government forces fighting the Iran-allied Houthis. The Houthis have been subject to a separate arms embargo since 2015. Iran has repeatedly denied supplying weapons to the Houthis.
"The Houthi forces continue to receive military support in the form of assault rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers, anti tank guided missiles, as well as more sophisticated cruise missile systems," the report found.
"Some of those weapons have technical characteristics similar to arms manufactured in Iran," it said.
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Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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