"Abdulla said the UAE felt snubbed by Washington not signing a
deal to supply new F-35 fighter jets.It was also angered by Biden’s
distance following a deadly Houthi drone and rocket strike on
Abu Dhabi. ----
When Barack Obama negotiated the nuclear deal with Iran, we
Saudis understood him to be seeking the breakup of a 70-year
marriage.
“How could we not? After all, the flaws in the deal are well known.
It paves a path for Iran to a nuclear bomb. It fills the war chest
of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has spread
militias across the Arab world armed with precision-guided munitions
to maim and kill people who formerly looked to America to help
guarantee their safety."

from
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/03/us-relations-saudi-arabia-uae-oil-crisis

Biden rebuffed as US relations with Saudi Arabia and UAE hit new low
Analysis: As oil prices – and diplomatic tensions – rise, two of the
biggest US allies are questioning the basis of their relationship

Joe Biden with Salman, now the Saudi king, in 2011. ‘The Saudi-US
relationship is in the throes of a crisis,’ one critic wrote.
Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP
Martin Chulov Middle East correspondent
Sun 3 Apr 2022 01.00 EDT

As Joe Biden moved to open US strategic oil reserves, his two biggest
oil-producing allies have kept their tanks firmly shut. The UAE and
Saudi Arabia continue to rebuff the US president as he attempts to
counter soaring oil prices prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And
both countries have been unusually frank about their refusal to step in.

The five-week-old war is bringing tensions to a head in several parts of
the world, but perhaps nowhere is a regional order more under strain
than the Middle East, where two of America’s biggest allies are now
seriously questioning the foundations of their relationship.

White House faces oil standoff with Saudi Arabia and UAE as prices soar
Read more
The Saudi and Emirati refusal to bail Biden out – or even to take his
calls – has pushed relations between the Gulf states and Washington to
an unprecedented low. The extraordinary flow of Russian wealth to Dubai,
just as the US and Europe try to strangle Putin’s economy, has inflamed
things further.

Advertisement
Add to that the still-sputtering talks between Washington and Tehran,
which could see sanctions reprieves in return for Iran returning to the
Obama-era nuclear deal, and there are clear signs of a faltering
friendship – with the potential to rewrite the geopolitics of the region.

Usually opaque and often inscrutable, officials in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh
have in recent weeks been uncharacteristically blunt to visiting
diplomats about the nature of their grievances, and how far they are
prepared to take them. One western diplomat told the Guardian that a
Saudi counterpart had said: “This is the end of the road for us and
Biden, but maybe the US also.”

Prominent Saudi and Emirati commentators shared the same sentiments. The
former al-Arabiya editor-in-chief, Mohammed al-Yahya chose the
previously unlikely forum of the Jerusalem Post to publish his views on
the standoff.

“The Saudi-US relationship is in the throes of a crisis,” he wrote. “I
am increasingly disturbed by the unreality of the American discussion
about the subject, which often fails to acknowledge just how deep and
serious the rift has grown.

“A more realistic discussion should focus on one word: divorce. When
Barack Obama negotiated the nuclear deal with Iran, we Saudis understood
him to be seeking the breakup of a 70-year marriage.

“How could we not? After all, the flaws in the deal are well known. It
paves a path for Iran to a nuclear bomb. It fills the war chest of
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has spread militias
across the Arab world armed with precision-guided munitions to maim and
kill people who formerly looked to America to help guarantee their safety.

Advertisement
“Why should America’s regional allies help Washington contain Russia in
Europe when Washington is strengthening Russia and Iran in the Middle East?”

Al-Yahya contrasted Washington’s demands with Beijing’s no-strings
diplomacy, saying: “While American policy is beset by baffling
contradictions, Chinese policy is simple and straightforward. Beijing is
offering Riyadh a simple deal: sell us your oil and choose whatever
military equipment you want from our catalogue; in return, help us to
stabilise global energy markets.

“In other words, the Chinese are offering what increasingly appears
modelled on the American-Saudi deal that stabilised the Middle East for
70 years.”

Specter of problematic crown prince looms over Biden’s Saudi Arabia policy
Read more
In recent months, Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the
Middle East, has been a frequent visitor to Riyadh, trying to calibrate
a relationship that soured soon after Biden’s inauguration, when he
refused to speak to Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Mohammed bin Salman.

That stance set the tone for the standoff that has followed. And both
Prince Mohammed and his counterpart in the UAE, Mohamed bin Zayed,
remain deeply wary of the administration’s determination to push through
the nuclear deal, which would give Iran comprehensive sanctions relief
in return for abandoning the capacity to build a nuclear weapon.

A perceived lack of support from Washington for the Saudi-led campaign
against Houthis in Yemen has added to the angst. And so too has an
approach of an administration that Riyadh and Abu Dhabi believe is
willing to sacrifice allies for idealism. The naked transactional
diplomacy of Donald Trump was a formula more familiar to both, and had
been readily deployed by China, to whom each is looking towards for
closer trade, energy and even security ties.

Professor Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a noted scholar in political science,
described the crisis with Washington as the worst in “50 years”.

He laid a litany of gripes at the doors of the White House, which he
said had built up particularly during the Biden administration.

Writing in the Lebanese daily Annahar, he said: “The UAE’s relationship
with the US partner is at stake, at a crossroads. It is certain that the
task of fixing the misunderstanding falls on the shoulders of the Biden
administration, which may be on the verge of losing a regional partner
that is increasingly self-confident and has an increasing regional and
global presence.

“The UAE has invested a lot in its relations with Washington. We
allocated the bulk of our investments of huge sovereign wealth funds in
the American markets, excluding Asian and European markets, and had
wanted to increase trade with Washington.”

Abdulla said the UAE felt snubbed by Washington not signing a deal to
supply new F-35 fighter jets.It was also angered by Biden’s distance
following a deadly Houthi drone and rocket strike on Abu Dhabi.

“What made matters worse was the Biden administration’s objection to
sovereign Emirati decisions, such as receiving Bashar al-Assad … and
putting pressure on Abu Dhabi to increase its oil production outside the
context of the Opec agreement.

“All this comes at a time when America is no longer the only superpower
in the world, which prompted the UAE and other countries to diversify
partners.”

Topics
US foreign policy
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Middle East and north Africa
news