(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: Middle East Conundrum

Topic: Middle East Conundrum

Guest:

K P Fabian, (Former Ambassdor)
Prof. A.K. Pasha, (Centre for West Asian Studies, JNU)
Talmiz Ahmed, (Former Ambassdor)

Topic Description:

Saudi Arabia accused Iran of ordering this week’s attack on key oil facilities, stoking concerns that the world’s largest oil-producing region is edging toward another war. Crude prices also rose. Prince Khalid Bin Salman, the vice minister for defense and brother of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, said on Twitter that Tuesday’s drone attack, which was claimed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, undermined efforts to heal the divided country. His comments came as Saudi-led forces launched retaliatory airstrikes against Houthi positions in Yemen, where the United Nations is working to end a four-year war that’s killed thousands and left millions facing hunger and disease. The Houthi attacks on two Aramco oil pumping stations forced an important east-west pipeline in the kingdom to close and added to friction in the Gulf, where the U.S. has tightened sanctions against Iran, demanding it stop supporting paramilitary groups across the Middle East, including the Houthis. On this edition of the Big Picture we will analyse the fragile situation in the middle east