Biden Still Seeks Bilateral Deal With Saudis Before Trump Enters Oval

Via The Libertarian Institute

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.”

“The agreement wouldn’t be the full defense treaty the U.S. and Saudi Arabia were discussing but Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) and the White House still want to reach a security agreement before President Biden leaves office in January,” the report continues.

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. 

Donald #Trump, who has emerged triumphant in the US presidential election, is likely to “double down” on the Abraham Accords, and “will probably continue to support #Netanyahu in his fights in #Gaza and in #Lebanon and probably in #Syria without allowing him to go into a… pic.twitter.com/LfTlPh5mPl

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) November 6, 2024

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.