“We believe there is great value in including as many capabilities as possible in this area, and certainly Israel has significant air and missile defense capabilities as needed. But we are having these discussions bilaterally with these nations,” the administration official told journalists. Biden, on his first trip to the Middle East as president, focused on a planned summit with six Gulf states and Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, while playing down a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This meeting has drawn criticism in the United States for human rights violations. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Biden had vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” on the world stage over the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, but ultimately decided that US interests dictated a recalibration, not a break, in relations with the top oil exporter in the world and Arab. power plant. The US leader said he had put the Khashoggi killing at the top of his meeting with the Saudi crown prince on Friday and that silence on the human rights issue was “inconsistent with who we are and who I am”. read more Saudi Al Arabiya TV, citing a Saudi official, reported that the crown prince told Biden that if the United States only deals with countries that share its values 100 percent, then it will only have to deal with NATO countries. Biden needs the help of OPEC giant Saudi Arabia at a time of high crude prices and other problems related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and as he encourages efforts to end the war in Yemen, where there is a temporary truce. Washington also wants to limit Iran’s influence in the region and China’s global influence. The government official said the United States hopes to see a boost in OPEC output in the coming weeks. Biden is expected to push other Gulf producers to pump more oil. The OPEC+ alliance, which includes Russia, meets next on August 3. The US president, who began his trip to the region with a visit to Israel, will hold bilateral talks with leaders of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq before attending the wider summit where he will “articulate clearly” his vision and strategy for America’s engagement in the Middle East, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday. “He’s going to make sure there’s no vacuum in the Middle East for China and Russia to fill,” Sullivan said. Another senior administration official said Biden will announce that the United States has committed $1 billion in new short- and long-term food security aid for the Middle East and North Africa, and that the Gulf states will commit $3 billion in next two years on projects aligned with US partnerships in global infrastructure and investment. The Gulf states, which have refused to side with the West against Russia in the Ukraine conflict, are in turn seeking a concrete commitment from the United States to strategic ties that have been strained by a perceived US disengagement from the region.
Iran is WORRIED
Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have been frustrated by US conditions on arms sales and their exclusion from indirect US-Iran talks aimed at reviving a 2015 nuclear deal they see as flawed for not addressing regional concerns about the missile program and Tehran’s behavior. “The most important demand from the Saudi leadership and other Gulf leaders — and the Arabs in general — is clarity on US policy and its direction in the region,” said Abdulaziz Sager, president of the Gulf Research Center which based in Riyadh. Israel, which shares its concerns about Iran, encouraged Biden’s trip to the kingdom, hoping it would promote a warming between Saudi Arabia and Israel as part of a broader Arab rapprochement after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain forged ties with Israel in US-brokered deals that received Riyadh’s blessings. In a sign of progress in what Biden described as a groundbreaking process, Saudi Arabia said Friday it would open its airspace to all carriers, paving the way for more overflights to and from Israel. Washington and Riyadh also announced the withdrawal of US and other peacekeepers from Tiran — a strategically located island between Saudi Arabia and Egypt leading to the Israeli port of Eilat. The troops have been deployed as part of agreements reached in 1978 that led to a peace accord between Israel and Egypt. A plan to link air defense systems could be tough on Arab states that have no ties to Israel and are reluctant to be part of an alliance seen against Iran, which has built a powerful network of proxies in the region, including Iraq. Lebanon and Yemen. Senior Emirati official Anwar Gargas said on Friday that the idea of a so-called NATO in the Middle East is difficult and that bilateral cooperation is faster and more effective. read more The UAE, he said, would not support a confrontational approach: “We are open to cooperation, but not cooperation that targets any other country in the region and I specifically mention Iran.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Additional reporting by Maha El Dahan in Jeddah and John Irish in Paris Writing by Ghaida Ghantous and Michael Georgy Editing by Daniel Wallis and Frances Kerry Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
