OPINION:
Relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia remain on a solid footing, a credit to the two sides having worked together for decades on issues both big and small. Unfortunately, events over the past three-plus years have put unnecessary and costly strains on bilateral ties.
Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has become an economic powerhouse. On the diplomatic front, it effectively adopted a balanced approach with other sovereign states, both near and far.
Unfortunately, presidential candidate Joe Biden wasn’t that impressed. Early on in his quest for the White House, Mr. Biden asserted that Saudi Arabia was a regional problem, not a strategic partner, and promised a primary debate audience in November 2019 that as president, he would deviate from Donald Trump’s pro-Saudi policies and treat the kingdom as a “pariah.”
Sure enough, the new administration made evident that reaching an accommodation with the Iranian regime would be its No. 1 regional priority — and what attention it did give to Saudi Arabia was hardly supportive.
For example, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, backed by the Iranian regime, had been a significant challenge for Saudi Arabia dating back to early 2015. Upon assuming office, Mr. Biden applied considerable pressure on the kingdom to end the conflict, going so far as to remove the Houthi militia from the State Department’s terror list and then months later yanked missile defense systems from a key Saudi air base.
(Fast-forward to today, and the Houthis have fired volleys of missiles and drones at Israel while launching attacks on global merchant shipping and American naval forces.)
The following year, as the midterm elections approached, Mr. Biden declared there would be “consequences” for Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ announced that it would scale back oil production, which the White House feared would result in higher gasoline prices.
With the United States increasingly seen as an unreliable partner, Saudi Arabia looked elsewhere to strengthen its position. In March 2023, it worked with China to reestablish ties with Iran, which lessened tensions and led to the cessation of Houthi attacks on Saudi soil. Later that month, Saudi Arabia agreed to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization political and social union as a dialogue partner.
Mohammed Alyahya, Harvard’s Belfer Center senior fellow, said at the time that the Chinese were offering the Saudis a “bargain that seems to be modeled on the American-Saudi deal [reached by President Franklin Roosevelt and King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud] that sought to stabilize the region for 70 years.” Sure enough, the two governments signed economic cooperation deals totaling $25 billion at the end of 2023.
Other significant strategic maneuvers included joining the BRICS group of developing nations, initiating efforts to mediate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, and working alongside other governments to end the war in the Gaza Strip.
In a belated effort to restore balance and repair the damage, the Biden administration has grown more conciliatory in recent months. In particular, the two countries have been discussing a monumental agreement that would include a defense pact, an American partnership on the development of a nuclear energy program, and loosening of Washington export controls of computer chips used in artificial intelligence development tools to Saudi Arabia — alongside a normalization agreement with Israel.
With the Gaza conflict continuing to rage, however, Riyadh smartly floated a bilateral alternative that would set aside the normalization with Israel until after the fighting concludes. In either form, such a breakthrough, if fully implemented, would be a powerful counter to Iranian expansionism and serve as a reminder to China that the United States is not leaving the region — and recognition that the kingdom is a critical stabilizing influence.
Some versions of the alternative appear to have been accepted. According to a statement from the official Saudi Press Agency two weeks ago, national security adviser Jake Sullivan was in the city of Dhahran for negotiations with the crown prince over the weekend and left the kingdom with a near-final agreement in hand.
Saudi Arabia and its regional neighbors have looked forward to a day when American foreign policy will better align, as the Middle East remains a focal point of Washington’s vital interests. No U.S. administration should again take Saudi Arabia and other regional allies for granted in an ideological quest to accommodate the Iranian regime’s often pernicious aspirations. Doing so not only harms America’s standing with its longtime allies, but the Saudis have shown the ability to weather such a storm by fostering relationship alternatives.
• Mohammed Alhamed is a Saudi geopolitical analyst and president of the consultancy Saudi Elite (@M7Alhamed). Jason Epstein is president of Southfive Strategies LLC, an international public affairs consultancy (@Southfive).
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