In its first weeks in office, the Biden Administration rebuked Saudi Arabia and made concessions to Iran. How are things so far?
On Monday, Israel accused Iran of responsibility for an explosion on an Israeli merchant ship. Over the weekend, Tehran rejected US and European demands to renegotiate the nuclear deal, while Iran-backed Houthi militias stepped up their attacks on Saudi Arabia in Yemen with rocket and drone launches.
The Biden team seems to have hoped that the “recalibration” of the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, which fought for the 2015 takeover of Houthi in neighboring Yemen, will draw war there. 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 had to issue a statement saying it was “deeply disturbed by the continuing Houthi attacks.”
The attacks have persisted, and now Foggy Bottom’s language is more direct: “The United States strongly condemns the Houthis’ attacks on Saudi population centers on Saturday, February 27,” the state said on Sunday. “We call on the houthi to put an end to these huge attacks.”
But why would the Houthis listen, when the US has legitimized them with a deferred sanction in exchange for nothing, and when it is disseminating a strategy to accommodate their employers in Tehran? Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is on the defensive, as Washington downgrades the alliance and restricts arms sales.