Why Biden can’t woo the Middle East

US allies want to avoid antagonizing Russia, which is increasingly influential in the region

For decades, US policy in the Middle East has relied on coordination with the Saudi-led Gulf states, Israel, Egypt and Turkey. Since Barack Obama’s administration, however, relations between Washington and its core regional allies in the Middle East have floundered, confounding the United States’ ability to manage Middle Eastern crises and formulate consensus in the region.

Washington’s troubled relations with its Middle Eastern allies have become particularly pronounced since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. Though all the Middle Eastern countries that are American allies condemned Russia at the UN resolution in March for starting a war with Ukraine, only Israel has implemented sanctions, albeit minimally. 

The reluctance to impose sanctions by the United States’ allies in the Middle East reflects their intention to avoid antagonizing Russia, which is increasingly influential in the region, and also reflects their dissatisfaction with Washington and confirms the perception that its influence in the region is waning.

US-Saudi relations

US relations with Saudi Arabia began to deteriorate notably in 2015. The Iran nuclear deal implemented by Obama caused considerable alarm in Riyadh, while Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen, which also began that year, received only lukewarm US support. Obama’s successor as US president, Donald Trump, took a more pro-Saudi approach upon entering the White House in 2017, traveling to Saudi Arabia on his first foreign trip as president and increasing weapons sales to the country.

Joe Biden, however, adopted a hard stance against Saudi Arabia during his 2020 presidential campaign. He declared he would make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” if elected, criticized Saudi policies in Yemen and called for the country to take accountability for the 2018 assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. These foreign-policy stances taken during Biden’s campaign continued after he became president. 

Weeks after entering office in 2021, Biden released a 2018 US intelligence report on the assassination of Khashoggi – which concluded that the assassination in Turkey was carried out “on behalf of” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, “who considered the regime critic a threat to the kingdom” – paused weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, announced an end to US support for the Saudi campaign in Yemen and removed Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels from the US terrorism list.

Biden’s intent to downsize the US presence in the Middle East, part of an ongoing trend seen since the Obama administration, has also caused alarm in Riyadh. 

The Saudis have long relied on the US presence to deter threats in the Middle East, from when Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq to Iran today, and Biden’s remarks spelling out the United States’ diplomatic stance in the Middle East have further enhanced the kingdom’s fears over its own security. 

Gulf security concerns

In 2021, more than 300 Houthi drone and missile attacks hit Saudi Arabia, and there have been recent attacks on the United Arab Emirates by the Houthi rebels as well. The UAE has also joined the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen.

The Gulf states’ deteriorating security situation and the belief that the US is unwilling to provide satisfactory assistance to them have instigated Arab attempts to diversify their security guarantors. 

Last August, for example, Saudi Arabia and Russia signed a military cooperation agreement “aimed at developing joint military cooperation between the two countries.” The UAE agreed to purchase dozens of French Rafale jets and helicopters in December and signed a multibillion-dollar contract with South Korea for an air defense system (based on a Russian design) in January.

It was also revealed in December that Saudi Arabia was building its own missiles with Chinese assistance, while a suspected Chinese military base under construction in the UAE was shut down last November after pressure from the US.

Leaders of both Saudi Arabia and the UAE recently declined calls from Biden to discuss the Ukraine crisis soon after Russia attacked the country, while Riyadh also rejected US calls to increase oil production and help lower oil prices in mid-February. And in March, Saudi Arabia and Qatar criticized the West for the resolute response to Russia in Ukraine while neglecting crises in the Middle East.

US relations with Israel, Egypt

Israel’s relationship with the US has also fluctuated in recent years. Obama and former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared a strained relationship over Palestine as well as the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. US-Israeli ties were revived under Trump, who moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and took a more forceful approach against Iran (including canceling the nuclear deal).

But the Biden administration’s renewed efforts to reimplement the Iran nuclear deal, coupled with warnings over Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank, have complicated US-Israeli relations again. Russia’s influence over Iran and Syria has also made Israel cautious of condemning the Kremlin, lest it may need Moscow’s assistance to alleviate future crises with both these countries.

Perceptions persist in Egypt that the US abandoned former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 after he faced nationwide protests as part of the wider Arab Spring. After his downfall, the Muslim Brotherhood under Mohammed Morsi led the country for more than a year until a military coup, denounced by the White House, deposed him in 2013.

Biden has taken a tepid approach to building back the United States’ relationship with Egypt under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has led the country since 2014. While the US has maintained its military assistance, it cut $130 million in military aid to Egypt in January over human-rights concerns. The move blunted Egyptian enthusiasm for a tough response against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine the following month.

Raising tensions with Russia over Ukraine will also have drastic consequences for Egypt’s food security. Ukraine and Russia are both major food exporters to Egypt, and the spike in grain prices in 2010-11 played a major role in raising public frustration that culminated in the Arab Spring. Cairo will not jeopardize its fragile food situation further by sanctioning Russia. 

Moreover, increasing military and energy ties between Egypt and Russia since 2014 have also helped cement positive relations between the two countries.

The article was punished on Asia Times