Before President Joe Biden leaves office in January, he will seek to sign a bilateral security agreement with Saudi Arabia, according to a new report. The deal comes after the Biden administration failed to ink a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Barak Ravid of Axios reported on Tuesday that “the US and Saudi Arabia are discussing a possible security agreement that wouldn’t involve a broader deal with Israel.”
As a candidate, Biden ran on a platform of holding the Gulf Kingdom responsible for the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudi slaughter in Yemen that claimed around 400,000 lives.
While the Biden administration announced some restrictions on weapon sales to Saudi Arabia, which were later lifted, top US officials sought to expand the Donald Trump-era Abraham Accords with Riyadh. The Accords are a series of agreements where the US promised arms and other benefits to Muslim nations that normalized their relationship with Israel.
Prior to the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Tel Aviv’s onslaught in Gaza, Washington was nearing a pact with Tel Aviv and Riyadh that would see Saudi Arabia receive weapons, a mutual defense treaty, and nuclear technology from the US.
The Israeli genocide against Gaza has made any deal impossible. Over the past year, the White House has sought to expand the Israel-Saudi normalization pact to include the rebuilding of Gaza. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused any ceasefire in Gaza, scuttling the changes of any deal with the Kingdom.
It’s unclear why the Biden administration would seek to strengthen bilateral security ties with Riyadh with the president’s short time left in office. Saudi Arabia has an abysmal human rights record.
While Biden has been so far unable to get a deal done between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Beijing was able to broker an agreement between Tehran and Riyadh. Recently, the Saudi and Iranian military conducted bilateral drills in the Gulf of Oman.
