US-Saudi Relations: Secretary of State Meets Saudi Crown Prince

Jun 7, 2023 | US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ahead of a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers in Saudi Arabia. The US State Department says they had 'candid' discussions that included human rights concerns and ending the war in Yemen. Ties between Washington and Riyadh have been strained in recent years.

Is the US-Saudi Arabia Relationship Falling Apart? | Inside Story

Former Saudi intelligence agent Saad Al Jabri is suing the Saudi Crown Prince in the US, alleging Mohammed Bin Salman sent the 'hit squad' that murdered Jamal Khashoggi to kill him in Canada.

In a rare rebuke, the State Department praised Jabri and demanded answers about the safety of his children.

Will President Donald Trump, a staunch supporter for Bin Salman, be forced to take action?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan; Guests: Khalil Jahshan - Executive Director, Arab Center Washington DC; Mahjoob Zweiri - Director, Gulf Studies Center, Qatar University; Rami Khouri - Senior Fellow, Issam Fares Institute, American University of Beirut

NAS Pensacola Tragedy Raises Questions Over Cozy US/Saudi Relationship

Via America’s Lawyer: Mike Papantonio and Trial Lawyer Magazine editor Farron Cousins talk about the recent mass shooting at a Pensacola Naval base, with the shooter identified as 21 year-old Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani of the Royal Saudi Air Force. While the FBI was quick to investigate the shooting as a possible act of terrorism, why does President Trump appear hesitant to link the Saudi national with any terror plot? With Saudi ties to 9/11, the war in Yemen, as well as the execution of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, DOES the U.S. government turn a blind eye to its biggest customer of military weaponry?

New Documents Reveal Blurred Lines with US & Saudi Arabia Relationship

Via America’s Lawyer: Mike Papantonio and RT Correspondent Brigida Santos walk us through a report published by the House Committee of Oversight & Government Reform, which details how President Trump and close allies have lobbied for nuclear technology transfer to Saudi Arabia IRRESPECTIVE of non-proliferation rules. This harrowing report shows a clear prioritization of profit over the safety & security of American citizens.

Andrew Bacevich: The US-Saudi Relationship Is a Principal Source of Instability in the Middle East

We look at a number of recent developments in U.S.-Saudi relations, a day after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a confirmation hearing for retired four-star general John Abizaid to become U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. On Monday, the Trump administration gave a private briefing to senators on the investigation into the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October. Senators slammed the briefing for providing no new information. Meanwhile, The New York Times has revealed new details about the jailing and torture of a doctor with U.S. citizenship in Saudi Arabia. Walid Fitaihi is a Harvard-trained doctor who has been jailed without charge since 2017. We speak with Andrew Bacevich, a retired colonel and Vietnam War veteran, author and professor emeritus of international relations and history at Boston University, and William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy.

Bernie Sanders: End US Arms Sales to Saudis and Support for its Yemen War

TRNN Replay: At the Sanders Institute Gathering, Sen. Sanders joins Paul Jay to discuss his Senate resolution to end US support for the Saudi war in Yemen

Will Jamal Khashoggi's Disappearance Impact US-Saudi Relations? I Inside Story

President Donald Trump has acknoweldged for the first time that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is likely dead.

More than two weeks after Jamal Khashoggi disappeared, his fate remains unclear; but US President Donald Trump has admitted, for the first time, the journalist may have been killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Trump's comments, are a shift for the White House, and he's warning of 'severe' consequences if the Saudi leadership is involved. The shift in tone comes following his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Riyadh and Ankara earlier this week.

The president is now under mounting pressure to take action. Members of the House of Representatives have sent him a letter calling for sanctions against Saudi Arabia; so, how will this case impact the long-standing relationship between Washington and Riyadh?

Presenter: Imran Kahn | Guests: Kenneth Roth - Executive Director of Human Rights Watch; Galip Dalay - Research Director of Al Sharq Forum; Georges Malbrunot - Middle East Reporter at Le Figaro.

Paul Jay on the US-Saudi ‘Special Relationship’

The likely murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi has inspired a new debate about the US's "special relationship" with Saudi Arabia. TRNN's Paul Jay and Ben Norton discuss why America sees the Saudi monarchy as a key player in its global empire, and the key role of arms sales and fossil fuels in geopolitics.

What’s Next in US-Saudi Relations

On March 22, Foreign Policy at Brookings hosted the minister of foreign affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, H.E. Adel Al-Jubeir, for an Alan and Jane Batkin International Leaders Forum. In his remarks, the foreign minister provided perspectives on Saudi Arabia’s role as a regional leader for stability and reconstruction.

Tillerson: Today Is Historic for US-Saudi Arabia Relations

May. 20, 2017 - 3:46 - U.S. secretary of state talks new strategic partnership between two nations

Inside Story: Trouble in US-Saudi Relations?

Amid reports of tensions between the historic allies, we discuss the regional implications of a possible fall out.

Read the article here

A Widening Gulf

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: It is to be hoped that the US and Saudi Arabia patch up their differences soon

Throughout Saudi Arabia’s long alliance with the West, one principle above all has governed its diplomacy: to keep any disagreements firmly behind closed doors. So the very public quarrel this week between Riyadh and Washington, which has seen the Saudis reject a rotating place on the United Nations Security Council, scale back cooperation with the CIA over Syria, and pledge to seek alternative weapons suppliers to the United States, is both unprecedented and extraordinarily important.

For many, the fact that Barack Obama’s administration has upset the House of Saud – despite protestations of enduring friendship from John Kerry, the Secretary of State – will be entirely welcome. The Saudis’ wealth and strategic importance have long bought them immunity from the criticism that their record of fomenting Islamist extremism and denying women’s rights might otherwise have incurred. With the shale revolution ensuring that America is no longer dependent on the Middle East for its oil, and a more pacific president (in every sense) in the White House, it is surely only natural that some distance appears. This was always, after all, an alliance based on self-interest rather than any real kinship. Read on and comment » | Telegraph View | Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Saudi Arabia Needs the Protection of the US

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The alliance between the world’s most powerful democracy and a feudal theocracy seems implausible but the US-Saudi alliance has been one of the last remaining post Second World War constants in the Middle East, writes Chris Doyle

The alliance between the world’s most powerful democracy and a feudal theocracy seems implausible but the US-Saudi alliance has been one of the last remaining post Second World War constants in the Middle East. The US provided Saudi security cover; while Saudi Arabia ensured the free flow of oil boosting production at times of crises.

There have been rifts – the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the refusal of the US to sell arms to Saudi in the 1980s due to Israeli objections and the fall out over the role of Saudi hijackers in the 9/11 bombings. US support for Israel always irked the Saudis, whilst Saudi human rights abuses and treatment of women was always an embarrassment for Washington. Despite all this, the relationship never reached the nadir that it has now. Has it reached its sell by date?

For a state that prefers private diplomacy, Saudi public outbursts attract attention. Saudi’s refusal to take up a seat at the UN Security Council and open rebuke of the Obama administration are meant to be noticed. The Saudi leadership expects to be listened to, to be party to major decisions, but it has felt excluded.

Saudi officials say that the Americans are ignoring all their allies and cosying up to their enemies, notably Iran. On every issue that matters to Riyadh, the US has, in their eyes, let them down. (They conveniently forget Washington’s silence over the Saudi intervention in Bahrain). » | Chris Doyle * | Wednesday, October 23, 2013

* Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding

Saudi Arabia in Diplomatic Shift Away from Old Ally US

Barack Obama and King Abdullah

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A bitter diplomatic row between US and Saudi Arabia has burst into the open in a development that could threaten one of the Middle East’s core alliances and Washington’s leadership in the region

The public rupture saw the head of Saudi intelligence declare that the kingdom was “scaling back” co-operation with the CIA over arming and training Syrian rebels and seeking alternate weapons suppliers to the United States.

The unprecedented rebuke by Prince Bandar Bin Sultan al-Saud came after Saudi Arabia stunned diplomats by rejecting a prized seat on the UN Security Council.

The decision to reject the seat, Prince Bandar reportedly told diplomats, was intended as “a message for the US” about Saudi frustration with the Obama administration’s long-running failure to arm rebels in Syria and the rising prospect of a nuclear deal that would favour Riyadh’s arch-foe, Iran.

John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, yesterday confirmed that he had been forced to defend US policy at lengthy meetings with Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, in Paris. » | Peter Foster, in Washington, Ruth Sherlock in Beirut and Alex Spillius | Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Verwandt »

King Saud Drank Alcohol

U.S. Sends Another Top Official To Saudi Arabia
NPR: The Obama administration is sending another official to Saudi Arabia to try to smooth over relations damaged by the so-called Arab Spring. The Saudis think the U.S. is being naive about the democracy movements and canceled recent plans for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit. They hosted, but only briefly, Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week, and this week it is National Security Adviser Tom Donilon's turn. Analysts say it will be difficult for the U.S. to support democracy in the Middle East and keep this strategic alliance on track. Read the transcript » | Michele Kelemen | Tuesday, April 12, 2011

’Arab Spring’ Drives Wedge between U.S., Saudi Arabia
THE MIAMI HERALD: WASHINGTON — The United States and Saudi Arabia — whose conflicted relationship has survived oil shocks, the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the U.S. invasion of Iraq — are drifting apart faster than at any time in recent history, according to diplomats, analysts and former U.S. officials.

The breach, punctuated by a series of tense diplomatic incidents in the past two weeks, could have profound implications for the U.S. role in the Middle East, even as President Barack Obama juggles major Arab upheavals from Libya to Yemen.

The Saudi monarchy, which itself has been loathe to introduce democratic reforms, watched with deepening alarm as the White House backed Arab opposition movements and helped nudge from power former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, another long-time U.S. ally, according to U.S. and Arab officials.

That alarm turned to horror when the Obama administration demanded that the Saudi-backed monarchy of Bahrain negotiate with protesters representing the country's majority Shiite Muslim population. To Saudi Arabia's Sunni rulers, Bahrain's Shiites are a proxy for Shiite Iran, its historic adversary.

"We're not going to budge. We're not going to accept a Shiite government in Bahrain," said an Arab diplomat, who spoke frankly on condition he not be further identified.

Saudi Arabia has registered its displeasure bluntly. Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were rebuffed when they sought to visit the kingdom this month. The official cover story was that aging King Abdullah was too ill to receive them.

Ignoring U.S. pleas for restraint, a Saudi-led military force from the Gulf Cooperation Council, a grouping of six Arab Persian Gulf states, entered Bahrain on March 14, helping its rulers squelch pro-democracy protests, at least for now.

A White House statement issued the day before enraged the Saudis and Bahrainis further, the diplomat and others with knowledge of the situation said. The statement urged "our GCC partners to show restraint and respect the rights of the people of Bahrain, and to act in a way that supports dialogue instead of undermining it."

In a speech Sunday in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former ambassador to Washington, said the Gulf countries now must look after their own security — a role played exclusively by the United States since the 1979 fall of the Shah of Iran. Continue reading and comment » | Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers | Thursday, March 24, 2011

‘Saudi-US Security Cooperation Strong’
SAUDI GAZETTE: JEDDAH – Saudi Arabia and US were cooperating closely on security, and both shared a deep concern about militant activities in Yemen, said US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano here Monday.

“The security coordination is very strong with Saudi Arabia,” she said after meetings with King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and senior officials.

“We all share a concern about terrorist activity emanating from Yemen,” Napolitano said.

Speaking at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Napolitano said that she met Saudi officials to discuss security issues and US visas for Saudi students, but that she did not discuss terror financing. >>> Jassim Alghamdi | Tuesday, June 01, 2010

US Goes Public on Saudi Duplicity
THE GUARDIAN: · First time administration has made concern public
· Claims royal family is financing Sunni groups
The extent of the deterioration in US-Saudi relations was exposed for the first time yesterday when Washington accused Riyadh of working to undermine the Iraqi government.

The Bush administration warned Saudi Arabia, until this year one of its closest allies, to stop undermining the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the defence secretary, Robert Gates, are scheduled to visit Jeddah next week.

Reflecting the deteriorating relationship, the US made public claims that the Saudis have been distributing fake documents lying about Mr Maliki.

The Bush administration, as well as the British government, is telling the Saudis, so far without success, that establishing a stable government in Iraq is in their interest and that they stand to suffer if it collapses.

Relations have been strained since King Abdullah unexpectedly criticised the US, describing the Iraq invasion as "an illegal foreign occupation".

That was the first sign of a rift between the two, who have enjoyed a solid relationship for decades, based on Saudi's vast oil reserves. US accuses Saudis of telling lies about Iraq (more) By Ewen MacAskill in Washington

Mark Alexander