President Biden’s visit to the Middle East
TAHA AMIR
Joe Biden just made his first trip to the Middle East as the US president. He may not be anonymous to the region, having visited legion times as Vice President and Senator for Delaware. However, this is the first time since he took over America’s top job. Oil and food prices have billowed since the Russian foray into Ukraine. The nuclear deal to limit Iran’s enrichment of uranium has slowed, and a truce in Yemen is holding. Nevertheless, there are important issues relating toEnergy and Security and the fundamental question of America’s role in the Middle East.
Biden arrived in the region on July 13. At a time when America’s linkages with several long-standing allies in the Middle East were contestably at something of a low depreciation. After taking office, he depicted Saudi Arabia as a pariah state and blocked Egypt’s $130 million in military aid. In March 2022. the UAE ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, said that relations with the US are undergoing a tension trial. US forces are being drawn down in Iraq as they crystallise America’s military footprint in the region and turn their focus to the war in Ukraine and the long tipster pivot to Asia.
Meanwhile, the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks came tumbling down over a decade ago, and there is zero chance on the horizon of attaining a two-state solution anytime soon, even as Israel forges new ties with the Arab States. President Biden himself has been candid about his visit to the region. He said he is heading to the Gulf looking to confirm the US role and its stakes in the Middle East.
Saudi ambassador to Washington, Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, said in Politico magazine that the day Biden reached the kingdom to say that history has shown that the US and Saudi Arabia have egress from every challenge. Nevertheless, more robust together, and that future should be no different. However, her message resonated recurrently. Long gone are the days when US-Gulf ties were about protection in exchange for oil. Instead, she said Saudi Arabia wants the cooperation of equals looking to preach climate change, food security, development issues, empowerment, and entrepreneurship. Together. Biden’s opportunity to do that was at a summit of six GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) leaders, Iraq’s Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Jordan’s King Abdullah, and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
He also aimed to strengthen relations in the first meeting of the newly formed I2U2 bloc named after India, Israel, UAE, and the US. The Group declared a plan for the UAE to fund $2 billion to build what they called high-tech boot. Parks in India with the US and Israeli assistance to boost food security. That plan is also about elevating the 2020 Abraham accords which saw the UAE, followed by Sudan and Morocco, regularising relations with Israel. It marked the first Arab state to do so since Egypt in 1989 and Jordan in 1994. So the first visit to the region was a chaotic situation for Biden, looking to assure allies that America was earnest to the region. One place, though, where he would have felt more cosy incurring a warm welcome was in Israel, a place he has journeyed over ten times since he met President Golda Meir in 1973.
Prior to his visit, the President gave an interview to Israeli Channel News Channel 12. In which he said that as a last resort, the US geared up to use force towards Iran, which the Israelis have endorsed for quite some time, at least in their own right to use force against Iran.
Furthermore, the likelihood of a new JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) diminishes daily. President Biden has alleged that he believes diplomacy is the best way forward. Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid exclaimed that words would not stem them, diplomacy would not thwart them. The only point that will halt Iran is recognising that the free world will use coercion.
Biden, on this trip, did consign to Israeli sovereignty and security. It enshrined the American kind of military establishment in defence cooperation. Nevertheless, there was not a big package of aid and arms, and there was no significant kind of meaty promulgation. During the President’s arrival, the Israelis had few expectations and hoped anything essential would happen. On this trip by President Biden, he was able to improve relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia further, which appears to be happening, and Saudi Arabia agreed to allow all Israeli civilian aeroplanes into its air space. That is something that Israel has wanted for years. Thus it is a pretty noteworthy improvement in relations between the two countries. However, of course, it is not a complete standardisation but a step in the right direction in the eyes of the Israelis.
Furthermore, Saudi Arabia has commented that whilst other Gulf and other Middle Eastern states have diplomatic ties with Israel, they are still committed to the initiatives that includes a two-state solution with Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. President Biden is a preacher who supports solutions that are the only way for the Israelis and Palestinian people to live in harmony and peace.
Donald Trump clinched ties with a Palestinian Authority, but it was just the tip of the iceberg. Biden, about the peace process, said that greater calm, more excellent stability and greater connection are critical. It is critical for all the people of the region, which is why we will be sure to discuss it. So, the best way to ensure the destiny of equal measure of freedom and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians is to employ dialogue.
The trip by Biden was more of a course rectification, returning to a sense of the status quo of pre-Trump era. It was putting the hand on the tiller, bringing the Middle East back into the fold, and saying that the region is still essential to us, and the US cares about what happens in this part of the world.
Many worries about Iran’s role in regional security, stability, and interregional relationships were also pretty top of the agenda when Biden was in Saudi Arabia. Iran was on the front burner throughout his trip to the Middle East. Biden and his counterparts in the region, almost all of them devoted to propping up support in the region, trying to bring everybody together to counter the Iranian threat without exacerbating the situation if that makes sense. Nevertheless, already, we see quite a different tone out of the Gulf. It is a precept that Israel has long been urging the West to get America to take a more hawkish stance on Iran, saying do not take literal options off the table. In addition, there needs to be a confrontation with Iran. However, the Gulf’s tone is already a bit more diplomatic.
The adviser to the President recently said that they are not interested in joining an axis against Iran. Moreover, this follows what the UAE has been saying for the last several years. Many of the Gulf countries are incredibly uncomfortable with Iran, and they want to find a diplomatic solution, and they want to talk things through as opposed to the Israelis, perhaps with more pugnacious instincts. Thus, he is talking about putting the Ambassador back into Iran but potentially seeing a tangible movement on the diplomatic front. And then, of course, several officials from Saudi Arabia and Iran were meeting in Iraq with Iraqi officials to try and maybe slowly start some corridors and avenues to having an inter-regional conversation about Iran’s place within the Middle East.
Of course, the American people would probably prefer not to be here, but Biden views his role as a kind of moral compass and a bridge between Israel and Arab states.
The author is undergraduate student studying BS Defence and strategic studies at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. He is also working as an intern at Monthly the Consul magazine.