Relations between the United States and the Gulf States of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are at an all time low. The Guardian. Biden has asked the countries to increase oil production to make up for sanctions against Russia in response to Ukraine but the two countries are not cooperating and are not even taking Joe Biden's calls. Much of the issue is Biden's attempt to bring back the Iran nuclear deal, with both states vigorously oppose. They are also both upset by the lack of support for the war in Yemen, which is widely considered a proxy war against Iran. This is leading to the Saudis to reach out to China as an alternative to the United States as an ally.
My Comment:
Somewhat surprising to see The Guardian covering this but I think it's another example of the media starting to turn on Joe Biden. There has finally been some coverage of the Hunter Biden scandal and now we are hearing about how he has destroyed our relationship with the Gulf States.
This is quite a contrast with what happened when Donald Trump was President. We were fairly close allies with the Gulf States when he was President. Indeed, Trump was able to broker an alliance between the Gulf States and Israel, something I thought would have been totally impossible.
Much of the reason that the Gulf States were able to work with Israel is because the Gulf States are quite frankly terrified of Iran. They are a huge military threat to them and they are pretty much directly attacking them via the Houthis in Yemen. The are suppling the Houthis with drones and ballistic missiles and those weapons have been used to attack both Saudi Arabia and the UAE directly.
Biden's government is also not helping the Saudis and UAE much in the war with the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Indeed, there is an argument that the Saudis are losing the war there and need help. But Biden isn't offering much help, and indeed cut off the limited support they were getting. You can argue if that is the right thing or not but the fact remains that the Saudis are not happy with that.
Given that context it is no surprise that the Saudis are upset by Biden's actions with Iran. Not only did he try to restart the nuclear deal, which did nothing to stop Iran from getting nukes but did a lot to give them money and supplies, he even tried to buy oil from them. The Iranians didn't go for it but it's no surprise that the Saudis and UAE were not happy with Biden after that.
The real problem is that the Saudis and UAE are going to look for new allies. Right now that seems to be Russia and China. Both countries can offer weapons and supplies and won't have much in the way of demands on the Gulf States. And China can buy tons of oil from them. It's a mutually beneficial relationship and the only loser here is the United States...
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