Jeddah, Saudi Arabia –
US President Joe Biden, speaking at a summit of Arab leaders, said on Saturday that the United States “will not walk away” from the Middle East as it tries to ensure stability in a volatile corner of the world and boost the global flow of oil to reverse the rising gas prices.
His comments, delivered at the Gulf Cooperation Council on the final leg of a four-day tour of the Middle East, came amid concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and support for militants in the region.
“We will not walk away and leave a vacuum for China or Russia or Iran to fill,” Biden said. “We will seek to seize this moment with active and principled American leadership.”
Although US forces continue to target terrorists in the region and remain deployed at bases throughout the Middle East, Biden suggested he was turning the page after the country’s invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Today I am proud to be able to say that the era of ground wars in the region, wars involving large numbers of US forces, is not underway,” he said.
He announced $1 billion in US aid to alleviate hunger in the region and pressed his counterparts, many of whom lead repressive governments, to guarantee human rights, including women’s rights, and allow their citizens to speak out.
“The future will be won by countries that unleash the full potential of their populations,” he said, even allowing people to “question and criticize leaders without fear of reprisal.”
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, called the summit, which gave him a chance to showcase his country’s heavyweight role in the region. He also hinted that the kingdom could extract more oil than it currently produces, something Biden hopes to see when an existing production deal between OPEC+ member countries expires in September.
Before the summit opened, Biden met individually with the leaders of Iraq, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, some of whom he had never sat down with since taking office.
He invited Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who became president of the United Arab Emirates two months ago, to visit the White House this year.
The Gulf Cooperation Council summit in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah was an opportunity for Biden to demonstrate his commitment to the region after spending most of his presidency focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s growing influence in Asia.
On Saturday, the White House released satellite images indicating Russian officials visited Iran in June and July to view weapons-capable drones it seeks to acquire for use in Ukraine. The disclosure appeared to be aimed at drawing a connection between the European war and Arab leaders’ own concerns about Iran.
So far, none of the countries represented at the summit have moved in unison with the US to sanction Russia, a key foreign policy priority for the Biden administration. If anything, the UAE has become a kind of financial haven for Russian billionaires and their billionaire yachts. Egypt remains open to Russian tourists.
A senior Biden administration official, briefing reporters ahead of the summit, said Moscow’s efforts to acquire drones from Tehran show Russia is “effectively banking on Iran.”
Biden’s attendance at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit followed his Friday meeting with Prince Mohammed, the heir to the throne currently held by his father, King Salman.
The 79-year-old president had initially shunned the 36-year-old royal over human rights abuses, particularly the murder of American writer Jamal Khashoggi, which US intelligence officials believe was likely sanctioned by the crown prince.
But Biden decided he needed to repair the longstanding relationship between the two countries to address rising gasoline prices and foster stability in the volatile region.
Biden and Prince Mohammed greeted each other with a fist bump when the president arrived at the royal palace in Jeddah, a gesture that was quickly criticized by some US lawmakers, as well as by the slain journalist’s fiancée. Biden later said that he did not shy away from talking about Khashoggi’s murder when he and the crown prince met.
The issue created a “cold” start to the discussion, according to a US official familiar with the private talks.
However, the atmosphere eventually became more relaxed, the official said, as they discussed energy security, the expansion of high-speed Internet access in the Middle East and other issues. Biden even tried to inject some humor into the conversation at the end of the meeting, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was a private meeting.
The Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news network reported that Prince Mohammed responded to Biden’s mention of Khashoggi by saying that attempts to impose a set of values may backfire, citing an unnamed Saudi source. He also said the United States had made mistakes at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, where detainees were tortured, and pressed Biden over the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during a recent Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.
Adel Al-Jubeir, the kingdom’s minister of state for foreign affairs, called the visit a “great success” and dismissed questions about friction between the two countries. .
“Maybe the skeptics are people who are looking for theater or drama. However, the reality is that this relationship is very strong,” he told Arab News, a Saudi news organization.
There are sharp divisions on foreign policy among the nine Middle Eastern heads of state attending the Gulf Cooperation Council.
For example, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates are trying to isolate and pressure Iran over its regional reach and proxies. Oman and Qatar, on the other hand, have strong diplomatic ties with Iran and have acted as intermediaries in talks between Washington and Tehran.
Qatar recently hosted talks between US and Iranian officials as they try to revive the Iran nuclear deal. Not only does Iran share a huge undersea gas field with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, it was quick to help Qatar when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt cut ties and imposed a years-long embargo on Qatar that ended shortly. before Biden took office. .
Biden’s actions have frustrated some of the leaders. While the United States has played a major role in encouraging a months-long ceasefire in Yemen, its decision to reverse a Trump-era move that had listed Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a terrorist group has outraged Emirati leaders and Saudis.
Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Megerian and Miller reported from Washington