In the first week in office, the government of Biden rebuked Saudi Arabia and made concessions to Iran. How’s it going so far?
On Monday, Israel accused Iran of being responsible for an explosion on an Israeli merchant ship. Over the weekend, Tehran turned down US and European calls to renegotiate the nuclear deal, while the Iran-backed Houthi militia escalated its attacks on Saudi Arabia from Yemen with a rocket launch and drones.
The Biden team seems to have hoped that the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, which fought the Houthi takeover in neighboring Yemen in 2015, would end the war there. The Houthi have different ideas. In early February, the foreign ministry said it would reverse the group’s designation as a terrorist organization, but days later it had to release a statement saying it was “deeply disturbed by continued Houthi attacks.”
The attacks have continued and now Foggy Bottom’s language is more direct: ‘The United States strongly condemns the Houthi’s attacks on population centers in Saudi Arabia on Saturday 27 February,’ the state said on Sunday. “We call on the Houthis to end these serious attacks.”
But why would the Houthis listen if the US legitimized them with a sanction extension in exchange for nothing, and when it broadcasts a strategy to accommodate their patrons in Tehran? Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is on the defensive as Washington downgrades the alliance and restricts arms sales.