In the first weeks of her tenure, the Biden government rebuked Saudi Arabia and made concessions to Iran. How are things going so far?
On Monday, Israel accused Iran of responsibility for an explosion on an Israeli commercial ship. Last weekend, Tehran rejected US and European pleas to renegotiate the nuclear deal, while the Iranian-backed Houthi militia escalated its attacks on Saudi Arabia from Yemen with a missile launch and drones.
The Biden team appears to have hoped that “recalibrating” America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, which fought against the 2015 takeover of Houthi in neighboring Yemen, would end the war there. The Houthis have other ideas. In early February, the State Department said it would reverse the group’s designation as a terrorist organization, but days later it had to issue a statement that it was “deeply troubled by the ongoing Houthi attacks.”
The attacks have continued and now Foggy Bottom’s language is more direct: “The United States strongly condemns the Houthis attacks on population centers in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, Feb. 27,” State said on Sunday. “We call on the Houthis to stop these blatant attacks.”
But why should the Houthis listen, when the US has legitimized them with deferral of sanctions in exchange for nothing, and when it broadcasts a strategy to house their customers in Tehran? Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is on the defensive as Washington takes down the alliance and restricts arms sales.