The first official visit by Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud to the United States is an important landmark. The two states have been allies for decades despite their profound disagreement over Israel, but the differences have widened in the past few years to a disturbing point. This visit is an important opportunity for US President Barack Obama to listen to Saudi concerns, with an immediate focus on the impending removal of sanctions on Iran, which is the latest issue that has caused the Saudis to suspect America’s ultimate strategic aims in the Middle East.
It will be important to look back and be clear about mistakes made before looking ahead. Saudi Arabia regards the US intervention and occupation of Iraq as a grave error that led to the disintegration of the country and allowed Iran to expand its role to an unacceptable degree. The Saudis were stunned when Obama failed to enforce his own red line on Syrian President Bashar Al Assad after he used chemical weapons on his own population. The Saudis also regretted America’s failure to respond quickly to events in Egypt in June 2013 when the Mohammad Mursi regime was ousted after popular outcry.
Looking ahead, the Americans would do well to listen carefully to Saudi concerns as a prime requirement must be the restoration of stable national governments. The chaos in Iraq and Syria has allowed Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) to grab large territories and greatly increase its potential for destruction over the region. But the two allies must also jointly agree that the threat of Iran working to destabilise parts of the Middle East needs a strong reaction.
The American contribution to the Gulf-led coalition in Yemen has been modest and could be larger. And these actions on urgent issues should happen as part of a wider joint understanding that stable rule of law is what the region needs, rather than chaos.
