Biden to Re-evaluate Relationship With Saudi Arabia After Oil Production Cut
Some foreign policy veterans cautioned Mr. Biden against drastic action. “The United States should seek a new strategic compact with Saudi Arabia rather than a divorce,” said Martin S. Indyk, a former diplomat in the Middle East who is now at the Council on Foreign Relations. “We need a more responsible Saudi leadership when it comes to oil production and regional behavior. They need a more reliable U.S. security understanding to deal with the threats they face. We should both step back from the brink.”
Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who also spent many years in government dealing with Middle East affairs, said Mr. Biden needed to weigh the potential drawbacks of a break with Saudi Arabia, a vital ally to the United States in fighting terrorism and countering Iran in the region.
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“Biden will have to decide whether the objective is to punish Saudi Arabia to pre-empt domestic criticism or to try to alter M.B.S.’s behavior,” he said, using the nickname for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “The latter will be hard, even if Biden moves to suspend all arms sales — a response that could impact U.S. policy in the Gulf with regard to Iran.”
The president was subject to withering criticism for visiting Saudi Arabia in July and giving a fist bump to Prince Mohammed, despite a campaign promise to make the kingdom an international “pariah” for the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The C.I.A. has determined that Prince Mohammed ordered the operation that led to the 2018 murder and dismemberment of Mr. Khashoggi, who was a columnist for The Washington Post and a resident of the United States.
Overcoming his own reservations, Mr. Biden went along with advisers who had argued that it was worth the political hit to restore ties with Saudi Arabia for a variety of reasons, such as the need to bolster energy markets given the effort to isolate Russia, one of the biggest oil producers in the world. While no specific announcements were made during Mr. Biden’s visit to Jeddah in July, U.S. officials said at the time that they had an understanding with Saudi Arabia that it would increase oil production in the fall and lower gasoline prices heading into the crucial congressional elections.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/11/us/politics/biden-saudi-arabia-oil-production-cut.html