Can Joe Biden convince the US’ Middle East allies he still has their back?

Name: Iran unveils underground drone base amid warnings of retaliation against alleged assassination
Uploaded: 2022-06-06T00:30:24.000Z
Duration: 1 min 13 s
Description: Iran unveils underground drone base amid warnings of retaliation against alleged assassination

Analysts said the US president will use his first-ever trip to the region to secure energy resources and plaster over widening cracks in bilateral ties

He’s expected to renew US security commitments and take a ‘visible role’ in normalising ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, they said

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US President Joe Biden is set to make his first Middle East trip since taking office in July. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images/TNS

Tom Hussain

Published: 8:30am, 6 Jun 2022

Joe Biden’s planned Middle East trip next month will see him push to rebuild confidence in Washington’s long-standing security-for-energy partnership with its regional allies as he seeks to dispel murmurs of US disengagement, analysts said.

In preparation for the president’s first trip to the region since taking office, the White House has sought to highlight the role the US has played in defending Israel and the Gulf Arab states from common rival Iran.

But the US’ shift in focus towards containing China, and its indecisive response to drone attacks against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates by Iran-allied militias in recent years, has undermined confidence in its security commitments to the region.

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Iran unveils underground drone base amid warnings of retaliation against alleged assassination

Negotiations in Vienna on the Iran nuclear deal have been deadlocked since March, raising the prospect of heightened tensions with Tehran, as the Gulf monarchies’ refusal to support the West’s isolation campaign against Russia by flooding international markets with oil further spotlighted widening cracks in their relationship with the US.

“The war in Ukraine has led the US to quickly realise that it needs Saudi Arabia and other energy suppliers in the region to provide an alternative to Russia’s energy supplies,” said Gedaliah Afterman, head of the Asia policy programme at the Abba Eban Institute for International Diplomacy in Israel.

“On the strategic front, the refusal of all US allies in the region to take sides in the war in Ukraine, despite US requests, was a clear signal that Washington is losing ground, allowing for others, including China, to become stronger at its expense.”