Biden Administration desperately trying to improve relations with UAE and

Washington: The Biden administration is frantically trying to bring down the fuel prices, which have skyrocketed due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, visited the countries in the Middle East to get them to increase oil production. But efforts made by Blinken did not yield desired results. The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman avoided meeting the US Secretary of State. In contrast, a leading US news agency has reported that the US Secretary of State apologised to the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during his meeting.

Last month, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited the countries in the Middle East region, including Israel. The objective visit was to garner support from Israel and the Gulf countries on the Russia-Ukraine war issue and to try and bring the fuel prices under control. The United States did not reveal all the details of the Blinken visit. Only the reports of the US Secretary of State were published, reassuring Israel and the Middle East countries on the Iran issue.

A report published by the US news agency Axios suggests that Blinken seems to have apologised to the UAE Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed during the meeting for the delayed responses by the Biden administration. In January, the Yemen based Houthi rebels had launched missile and drone attacks on Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE and the Biden administration had a sluggish response to condemn these attacks.

Also, the Biden administration had delayed adding the Houthi rebels once again to the list of terrorist organisations. The US news agency claimed that the US Secretary of State Blinken apologised to the UAE Crown Prince on these issues. Like UAE, Saudi is also upset with the Biden administration and Secretary of State Blinken, who attempted to pacify Saudi leadership.

The Jamal Khashoggi matter, withdrawal of Patriot air defence systems, stoppage of military assistance and talks with Iran for the nuclear deal have created tension between the United States and Saudi. Also, the Biden administration had demanded that Saudi should increase oil production given the Russia-Ukraine war. But it was evident in the last month itself that the Saudi Crown Prince refused to accept President Biden’s phone call. The US daily said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman had reprimanded US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan over the Khashoggi issue. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is trying to win the confidence of Saudi and UAE. But the stand adopted by these two countries over the last month poses a challenge to the Biden administration.