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In Context: U.S.-Saudi Ties Under Strain

In Context: U.S.-Saudi Ties Under Strain

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal in Europe Monday and Tuesday in an effort to soothe mounting tensions in the relationship that have recently spilled into public view.

Signs of strain in a pivotal U.S. partnership in the Middle East were evident last week when Saudi Arabia, in a surprise move, declined to assume a United Nations Security Council seat it had previously sought and won, citing the body’s failures in Syria. That was followed this weekend by the disclosure of the Saudi intelligence chief’s comments to European diplomats that Saudi Arabia was scaling back its cooperation with the U.S. on Syria.

As Brian Katulis explained last month in WPR, the rift in the U.S.-Saudi relationship has been growing for months over a variety of policy differences.

First is a dispute over the July ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and the subsequent crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia backed Morsi’s removal and is supporting the current efforts to isolate the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement Saudi Arabia views as a threat to its interests. The United States has argued for a more inclusive and pluralistic way forward and tried to stop the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. Second, the two countries have major tactical disagreements on the way forward in Syria. Both want to see President Bashar al-Assad leave the scene, but Saudi Arabia has been disillusioned by the Obama administration’s reticence to become deeply engaged militarily in Syria. The U.S.-Russia deal on securing chemical weapons still under discussion put the brakes on possible U.S. military strikes, disappointing the Saudis.

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