Tensions between the US and Saudi Arabia have eased as the two countries are stepping up military cooperation against Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing US and Saudi officials.
The officials said that the Biden administration has dropped its threats to retaliate against Saudi Arabia over OPEC+ oil production cuts that were announced in October ahead of the US midterm elections. The Democrats lost the House to the Republicans by a slim margin but overall performed better than expected.
President Biden vowed “consequences” for the oil cuts but now has no intention of following through on the threat. The officials said that the US and Saudi Arabia are moving ahead with new military and intelligence cooperation against Iran as there is no hope the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, will be revived.
The Biden administration has done Riyadh a few favors since the October oil cuts, including telling a New York court that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should be shielded from a lawsuit filed by the fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi. US intelligence concluded MbS ordered the killing of Khashoggi, but the administration said he should be immune from the lawsuit since he’s a head of state, and the case was dismissed after a federal judge agreed.
The administration also worked against a War Powers Resolution that would have ended US support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen. The White House pressured Senate Democrats to vote against the bill and said Biden would veto the legislation if it reached his desk. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) planned to bring the resolution to the floor for a vote but reversed course over White House pressure. The Journal report said that Saudi officials also worked against the resolution.
In November, Riyadh claimed that Iran was preparing an imminent attack on the Kingdom, although there was no indication Tehran was planning anything besides the Saudi claim. But in response, the US flew warplanes based in the Middle East toward Iran and later flew bombers into the region in a show of force. The officials said that this cooperation was a “turning point” for US-Saudi relations after they soured in October.
The US often flies bombers into the Middle East in shows of force aimed at Iran, and Saudi warplanes typically escort them as they fly through Saudi airspace. The Journal report said Saudi warplanes escorted US bombers several times last year, and the officials said this sustained cooperation helped maintain the relationship through the political spat.
The US has also been stepping up military cooperation with Israel, and the ultimate goal is to form a regional alliance against Iran with Israel and the US’s Arab allies. Such cooperation has become easier since Israel signed normalization agreements with the UAE and Bahrain, but the Saudis have signaled they’re still a long way from doing the same.
It almost sounds primitive, the dealings between the US and its so called allies….
Taking out Iran with its six metropolitan areas and four power grids will be like a training exercise for this fresh new coalition.
“Taking out” … War flicks aren’t all there is to watch 😉
I want northern Tehran taken out first. I would enjoy watching all those Mullahs scrambling for safety tripping over their grey beards.
Do you really believe the things you say BB? This is an antiwar website, not a pro-war website. In addition to the Mullahs, there are innocent men, women and children.
We need to get even with them for the 1979 incident when 444 hostages they held for over a year were tortured daily. You anti war website does not seem to be curtailing very many wars.
Never mind the coup in ’53 and the 26 years of the Shah prior to ’79. Or the 40+ years of belligerence that followed.
blocked. bye.
The HYPOCRISY of the Americans knows no bounds , when is a dictatorship not a dictatorship ? , when it`s friends with the Americans .
There is an old saying that goes: the enemy of my enemy is my friend…
Saudi Arabia will forever be a slave country beholden to the West. All that these Saudi “royals” are good at is scheming against neighboring countries using Western-Israeli arms and technology. They won’t pull towards Russia or China, its all bs and blackmail. They simply wanted Biden to be committed to more wars in the MENA region and for US military occupation and strikes on Iran- that’s what all the beef is about: they don’t want diplomacy with Iran. So the Saudis will remain reactionaries and by default, fanatically pro-American as well.
Devil is in details. Quite to the contrary. We are clumsily decresing decibels in an attempt to gain any kind of inroads into Saudi strategic outlook. But thst ship has sailed.
The Saudis are cynical, deceptive liars. They want nothing more than to light the whole Middle East on fire with a dangerous war on Iran and it’s resistance allies. The Saudi kingdom is a British Intelligence creation. Saudi Wahhabism is just the Islamic version of Jewish Zionism. You’re here trying to beautify their image as some rebellious country, but all evidence is to the contrary. I bet most of you pro-Saudi bots are paid trolls posting from Tel Aviv or Riyadh.
A lot of Zionism (especially Jewish Zionism, as opposed to its evangelical Christian base in the US) doesn’t necessarily seem to be based in religion.
I’d equate Zionism more with pan-Arabism than with Wahhabism.
A lot of Zionism (especially Jewish Zionism, as opposed to its evangelical Christian base in the US) doesn’t necessarily seem to be based in religion.
I’d equate Zionism more with pan-Arabism than with Wahhabism.
A lot of Zionism (especially Jewish Zionism, as opposed to its evangelical Christian base in the US) doesn’t necessarily seem to be based in religion.
I’d equate Zionism more with pan-Arabism than with Wahhabism.
We’re starting to run low on regime change candidates. Maybe we need to make peace with a few for, say, a year or even two… Then we can start all over with them afterwards.
Oh wait, I think I’m beginning to understand where the P5 + 1 agreement came from, …, and Minsk, … and, …, 😉
There should be regime change here in the USA. And Biden is not the only one that should go, all the former and current Democrats and Republicans in the Federal, State and Local Governments should be given one way tickets out of politics and rot in jail for the rest of their lives.
This is a fantasy, It is just that US cannot force Saudi Arabia into compliance on any front – but does not want to alienate Saudis, a new story of supposed collaboration.
In the light of Chinese President t’s visit to Saudi Arabia and a decisive Saudi move into Chinese-Rusdian orbit — a clumsy softeming of line is invented. Saudis never claimed Iran will attack. Saudis of their own free will joined SCO where Iran besides Russia and China is a ranking member. Our unintellugent intelligencevshkuld know what the world already does — that the soecial ops detail liyal to the ousted Crown Prince Mihammed Bun Nayef organized and executed killing of Kashoggi in such a theatrical fashion to amplify the volunility of anti MBS chorus in the West. They are caught thanks to evidence from Turkey,
Yet, iur politicians think that they are GENEROUSLY granting immunity that can be conveniently pulled back should MBS step inside US.
That travesty of War Powers Act is not what antiwar people think it was, It wax meant to DECOUPLE from Saudi Coalition and go INDEPENDENTLY into the ckntest for Bab Al-Mandeb, threatening Ehypt, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.
For some reason – US is pulling back from swagger, and staying within current agrerment. It is hard to see the rationalle as Saudi deal with Houthis will proceede anyway, Unless US has a spoiler plan.
Far from gaining traction anywhere -/ even a very neutral Oman has surprised everyone making it iillegal to establish any kind of relatiins with Israel. It feels like someone is playing games -/ jyst as Saudis alowwed Israeli civilian aircraft overflight to Asia bound planes — Oman has them blocked.
This cooperation looks more like retreat in all fronts in an attempt to gain any kind of inroads into Saudi strategic calculus.
This situation concerns me very deeply. I have no wish to see anything escalate… I rather feel like the War Machine is gearing up and if that is true we could be facing a larger war or conflict….
“Oil, oil, toil and trouble”-the witches……..
I feel like the war machine is hungry… When alliances are being formed, war is sure to follow…
It has been a long while since we had a major global confrontation…
Keeping in mind that we are talking about nuclear countries…