Biden leaves Saudi, ending his first Middle East tour as President
President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took a step to mending their troubled relationship with a fist bump, but the US leader left the kingdom on Saturday with few big successes and doubts as to whether the visit was worth it.
Biden’s four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, his first to the Middle East as president, aimed to reset ties with the Gulf Arab oil giant, demonstrate US commitment to the region and counter the rising influence of Iran, Russia and China.
Though Biden left the Middle East without securing an immediate pledge by Saudi Arabia to boost oil output or public support for US efforts for a regional security axis that would include Israel, the trip was not a wash.
In the end, they decided that keeping strategic ties with Saudi Arabia that have weathered 80 years was important for US interests and would help the two sides turn the page.
Riyadh took several important steps to pave a path for the visit, including backing a UN-brokered truce in the Yemen conflict, a big victory for Biden, who pulled US support for Saudi-led offensive operations. It also helped accelerate already approved boosts in oil production through OPEC+.
Biden came to Saudi Arabia hoping to convince the OPEC heavyweight to boost oil production, but the kingdom held firm on its strategy that it must operate within the framework of the OPEC+ alliance, which includes Russia, and not act unilaterally.
