US President Joe Biden begins his first Middle East tour since taking office on Tuesday, visiting Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia from July 13-16. The US leader has made it clear that he considers the trip important in terms of confronting Russia and China and intends to push Arab states to increase oil production to lower its cost.
Biden, in a July 9 article in The Washington Post explaining the purpose of the upcoming trip, noted that Middle Eastern energy resources are "vital to mitigating the impact on global supplies" allegedly caused by Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. "We need to counter Russian aggression, to make sure that we are in the best position to prevail in the rivalry with China <...>," the American leader said. According to him, the US needs to cooperate with a number of states, including Saudi Arabia, for this purpose.
Biden's national security aide Jake Sullivan said Monday at a briefing for reporters on the tour that the need "to continue intensive engagement in the Middle East" is due, in particular, to "increasing geopolitical rivalries in the world, especially in the Indo-Pacific and Europe." According to him, the US side during the trip will focus on the fact that OPEC countries need to ensure a sufficient supply of oil in the world market.
Other key topics, the White House said, would include normalizing Israel's ties with other countries in the region, improving Washington's relations with the Palestinians, countering Iran, and strengthening energy and food security.
Diplomacy around Israel
Biden will begin the trip with a visit to Israel. The US president will meet with Jewish Prime Minister Yair Lapid, President Yitzhak Herzog and representatives of the opposition. Sullivan specified that Biden "will be briefed on Israel's missile defense capabilities, including the US-backed Iron Dome, as well as the new Iron Beam laser system." According to John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the White House National Security Council, Biden intends to "reaffirm the strong, close and effective partnership" between the United States and Israel, as well as emphasize the "deep commitment" to the security of the state.
Sullivan said one of the key themes of the visit will be "the deep pervasive integration of Israel in the region, especially as it relates to Israel and Saudi Arabia." According to him, there will be "active work" in this direction. The White House has previously stressed that the administration in Washington supports the "Abrahamic agreements" on normalizing relations between Israel and several Arab countries.
In the Jewish state, Biden will participate in "a quadrilateral virtual summit with the leaders of Israel, the UAE and India with a focus on food security." According to White House plans, Biden will also hold a press conference in Israel.
For the Jewish leadership, the main topic of Biden's upcoming visit will be the situation around Iran's nuclear program, Lapid said on July 10. The US president assured in the article in The Washington Post that he intends "to continue to build up diplomatic and economic pressure until Iran is ready to comply with the 2015 atom deal." Sullivan said that one of the purposes of the trip was to "coordinate on the multifaceted threat from Iran," but gave no details.
Money for Palestine
According to the White House, Biden expects the trip to help strengthen US-Palestinian relations. The American leader is scheduled to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas of the State of Palestine and attend "a health event with representatives of Palestinian civil society."
Sullivan stressed that under Biden, "diplomatic ties with the Palestinians, which had been effectively severed under the previous US President Donald Trump, have been restored". Biden's aide recalled that the administration "has worked with Congress to restore $500 million in support for the Palestinians. One of the goals of the tour, according to Sullivan, is "to provide material assistance to the Palestinians." In addition, Biden intends to pledge "strong support for a two-state solution while ensuring for the Palestinians the same degree of security, freedom and opportunity."
According to US Internet portal Axios' sources, the US president will announce $100 million help for Palestinian hospitals during the trip, and will also urge other countries to send funds to do so.
Consultation in Saudi Arabia
Biden's planned visit to Saudi Arabia is drawing particular attention in the US. According to Sullivan, the US leader "will meet with Saudi leadership to strengthen partnerships and will also hold bilateral meetings with leaders of several Middle Eastern countries."
Biden will conclude the trip by attending the summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The council meeting is scheduled for July 16 in Jeddah; the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Iraq have also been invited. The US president "will make an important statement at the summit about the Biden administration's strategy and vision for the Middle East," Sullivan said.
Relations between the US and Saudi Arabia have been severely strained since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The US said the kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud personally approved the operation to kill Khashoggi because he saw the journalist as a threat. Riyadh has flatly rejected Washington's conclusions, but Biden has repeatedly promised to work to make the kingdom a rogue country. The Wall Street Journal reported in March that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia refused to have a phone conversation with Biden, who wanted to discuss the situation around Ukraine and the possibility of increasing oil production to reduce global hydrocarbon prices.
The White House said Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud during his upcoming Middle East tour. The kingdom's crown prince is also expected to attend the talks. The US leader intends to discuss "a number of bilateral, regional and global issues," including "a cease-fire in Yemen." In recent weeks, journalists have regularly wondered how Biden, in light of past harsh statements about Riyadh, intends to build a dialogue with the Saudi leadership about the increased oil production that Washington desperately needs.
The US leader said in late June that he would not ask the Saudi leadership to increase its oil supply. He said he was counting on an increase of oil supplies to the world markets from all the monarchies of the Persian Gulf zone. As Sullivan noted on Monday, Biden "expresses no regret for his remarks" about Saudi Arabia. He assured, however, that the Biden administration has never sought to sever relations with Riyadh, only to "recalibrate them."
Sullivan also made it clear that Biden, during his trip, would press oil-producing states to increase supplies. According to him, the US insists that "there has to be a sufficient supply on the world market." The assistant to the president of the US didn't give any details about these consultations. He said that "such discussions are better to be held behind the closed doors".
What's next for the oil markets?
Ben Cahill, an associate at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies who specializes in energy security issues, said that "the energy situation is an important motivation" for Biden's trip to the Middle East. As the expert noted in an online seminar, in light of high inflation and rising gasoline costs, which have an extremely negative impact on Biden's rating, the US leader "wants to use every possible leverage, to solve the problem."
Speaking about the prospects for Washington reaching an agreement with Middle Eastern countries on the possibility of increasing oil production after the tour, Cahill said, "President Biden has been urging Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to increase oil production for months". "I don't think we should expect any sensationalist statements from this trip," he said. - "I would like to emphasize that Saudi Arabia actually wants to regulate the oil market through OPEC +, not through unilateral steps".
"In the last couple of years, Saudi Arabia has really focused on maintaining cohesion within OPEC+," Cahill stressed. He said officials in the kingdom "believe it has done a lot of good." "It's helped them deal with a lot of volatility in the oil market since 2020. And they don't want to go it alone. Maintaining cohesion within the association is really a top priority for them," the expert said.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS