Post Trump, Saudi-US Relationship no Easy Task for Biden
In the corner of international articles, the “Washington Post” published last Wednesday an article by the American writer of Iranian origin, Jason Rezaian, in which he said that Biden’s victory in the US presidency will put him in the face of problems left by his predecessor Trump behind him on the domestic, political and foreign levels. He said that the Middle East is the most likely place to start problems and that there will not be any easy return to the status quo before Trump, as the top priority will be to reinvent Iran’s effective policy that deters the Islamic Republic from seeking regional impact after President Trump destroyed the nuclear agreement with Tehran. Biden helped build it during the Obama years.
The writer continued that Biden indicated that if he wins, he will reconnect with Tehran and focus on human rights in general, and equally important, it will be to curb the destructive tendencies of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom Trump refused to contain, and perhaps encouraged him in fact. Biden pledged to “reassess” US relations with Saudi Arabia and “end US support for its war on Yemen.”
In its second term, the Obama administration negotiated, in coordination with other major world powers, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a deal with Iran’s leaders that prevented the Islamic Republic from building a nuclear weapon in exchange for much-needed sanctions relief.
By all accounts, this agreement was achieving its primary goal of preserving Tehran’s stockpile of fissile material, thus placing a bomb far away. But Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018, promising a deal better in his place, despite crushing sanctions that pushed the Iranian economy to the brink of collapse, Trump failed to bring Iran back to the negotiating table, and instead, he ordered the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and almost took the United States to war with Iran.
But Biden should not be content with the Saudis by increasing arms sales, as President Barack Obama did when the nuclear deal was implemented.
The writer said that William J. The head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told him, “Relations with Saudi Arabia should be a two-way street, after the Trump administration’s blind indulgence,” and says that sincere moves should be encouraged to fix the kingdom’s poor human rights record, if implemented. But when Mohammed bin Salman violates international law, as is the case with the war in Yemen and the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, “we must respond with force.”
The writer pointed out that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman presided over the arrest campaigns of human rights activists, and tried to cover up Khashoggi’s crime and continued the war and siege of Yemen, and therefore only a few believed that the Saudi youth would face justice for his crimes. Because Trump has allowed him to continue his excesses of power unchecked, it is likely that the world is stuck with Mohammed bin Salman as the leader of Saudi Arabia for decades to come.
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